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Beth’s Old Home 


BOOKS BY 

MARION AMES TAGGART 


THE SIX GIRLS SERIES 


SIX GIRLS AND BOB. A Story of Patty Pans 
and Green Fields. 330 pages. 

SIX GIRLS AND THE TEA ROOM. A Story. 
316 pages. 

SIX GIRLS GROWING OLDER. A Story. 
331 pages. 

SIX GIRLS AND THE SEVENTH ONE. A 
Story. 358 pages. 

BETTY GASTON, THE SEVENTH GIRL. 
A Story. 352 pages. 

SIX GIRLS AND BETTY. A Story. 320 pages. 
SIX GIRLS GROWN UP. A Story. 343 pages. 
HER DAUGHTER JEAN. A Story. 336 pages. 
BETH’S WONDER- WINTER. A Story. 352 pages. 
Price, $1.25 each net 

These volumes are attractively illustrated and 
bound uniformly. 




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^Beth’s Old Home 


By 

MARION AMES TAGGART 


ILLUSTRATED Sr 

WILLIAM F. STECHER f 



W. A. WILDE COMPANY 


BOSTON 


CHICAGO 




Copyrighted^ /p/^. 

By W. a. Wilde Company 
All rights reserved 

Beth’s Old Home 


0CTi4l9?5 


©CI,A411959 


y 

r 


To 

Ruth and Alicent Raby 
with love and memory 
of a summer in 
“ Paradise ” 



Contents 


L On THE Steps 11 

II. Trump — and Trumps ! . . . .28 

III. The Unbelievable Decision . . 45 

IV. “ The CoRTLANDTS Are Coming ! . 63 

V. The Exotics 81 

VI. “Buttered Paws^^ .... 100 

VII. The Bristead Branch . . . .117 

VIII. “Oyez! OyezIOyez!’^ . . . 135 

IX. The Month of the Lion . . . 153 

X. Miss Bristead . . . . . 171 

XL “ A Message FROM Mars ” . . . 188 

XII. International Complications . . 206 

XIII. The Strong Hearted .... 224 

XIV. A Deserter . . . . . . 241 

XV. Little Pieces of the Picture Puzzle 257 

XV 1. Israel Bristead^ s Legacy . . . 275 

XVII. Friendships of Sorts .... 292 
XVIII. Beginnings and Endings . . . 310 

XIX. “ Lochaber No More ! ” . • . 329 


7 




ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

She and Janie Were Alone on the Steps 

(Frontispiece) . 14 

Kissing Her and Holding Her off . .78 

Beth Dropped on Her Knees Beside the 

Big Chair 159 

“I Got the Shock/’ Sobbed Miriam . . 236'^ 

He Talked Until Midnight Drew Near . 256 



Beth’s Old Home 


I 


CHAPTEK I 

ON THE STEPS 

B eth BKISTEAD, but two days returned to her 
home among the Massachusetts hills, sat on the 
door-step in the April sunshine. Beside her, Janie 
Little, her best friend and adoring comrade, with her 
hands clasping her knees, rocked to and fro and listened. 
Since Beth’s return she had talked without stopping, 
except while she slept. Not only had Janie Little been 
her audience, but also her Great-aunt Rebecca, who 
had brought Beth on the first eleven years of her way 
through life and who was so glad to get the dear child 
home again that every movement she made, each 
tone of her voice, betrayed the fact, albeit Aunt Re- 
becca was not given to betraying affection. 

Ella Lowndes, Aunt Rebecca’s help, also listened 
eagerly to Beth’s adventures, seizing transparent ex- 
cuses to come in from the kitchen to harken to the fiute- 
like little voice as it went steadily on with its mono- 
logue, rising and falling in the interest of what it had 
to relate, occasionally broken by rippling laughter. 
11 


12 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


Ella whipped eggs and stirred cake on a promenade 
back and forth to catch bits of Beth’s story, and she 
wiped dishes on the door-sill, not to lose more of it than 
she could help. 

Miss Tappan, the dressmaker, and Beth’s admirer, 
transferred another customer to a week later and came 
to make over Aunt Kebecca’s gray summer silk that 
week, in order to be there while Beth was giving her 
first recital. 

“ She’ll never tell so much again, all at once,” Miss 
Tappan said. “ After this she will just tell here and 
there, and I want to hear it all, just as it happened, 
like a serial story. I don’t wonder Beth called last 
winter in New York her ‘ Wonder Winter ’ ; it was all 
of that ! I admire to hear about the New York stores 
and the beautiful clothes in ’em and on the folks that 
came to Beth’s uncle’s house! You’d really think, 
when you try to imagine it, that ’twas a pity the Queen 
of Sheba couldn’t have had a week’s shopping in New 
York before she visited King Solomon. Though of 
course he seemed pleased enough as it was. Your 
Aunt Alida must be just as beautiful as a picture, 
Beth.” 

“ She’s ever so much more beautiful than lots of pic- 
tures I’ve seen,” laughed Beth. “ It isn’t only Aunt 
Alida’s face, it’s the way she moves and her manners ! 
I think Natalie will be just like her. Alys is a pretty 
girl, too, but Alys might not be so pretty if she didn’t 
have such lovely things to wear that just suit her. 
You couldn’t make Natalie anything but a beauty if 


THE STEPS 


13 


you — did anything ! Dirk is nice looking, for a boy. 
I like Dirk lots now, but at first — well, of course Janie 
and I never did care to have boys around. They are 
trying. But I got used to Dirk and now I think I 
could stand boys better. Boys are all just alike ; girls 
aren’t ! ” 

Miss Tappan laughed and refrained from suggesting 
that as girls grew older they saw more clearly the dif- 
ference between one boy and another. “ I keep trying 
to commit to memory what you say about the way 
some dress was made that your Aunt Alida had, then I 
realize that by the time I’ve committed it to memory 
it’s more’n likely the style will be changed. Here 
come some of the ladies from the sewing society. I 
can see their bags swinging and bumping, though I 
can’t make out who they are. 1 expect they’re on 
their way here, stopping as they go home to hear some- 
thing of what you saw. I declare, Beth Bristead, 
you’re the most interesting traveler ever returned home 
here, I do believe ! They won’t stay long ; they’ll have 
to be getting home. You’ll have to choose a few things 
to tell. Be sure you tell about your knowing a real 
king’s son, a prince, and how you’re wearing the ring 
he had made for the order he started for you and your 
cousins, the Order of the Strong Hearted. The more 
I hear that the less I think I can hear straight.” 

So the grown-ups of Chilton were additional audience 
to Beth’s stories of her “Wonder Winter,” and the 
children with whom Beth had gone to school came in 
groups, hung on chair arms, after the seats were filled. 


14 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


to hear what Beth had been doing and seeing in that 
great metropolis which, for the first time, became a 
reality, not merely the largest sized dot that signifies 
a city on the map. But this afternoon, Beth’s third 
day at home, she and Janie were alone on the steps and 
were making the most of it. 

“ No,” Beth replied to Janie’s last question. “ No, 
Janie, I don’t think it’s hard to be good when you’re 
rich — or at least I wouldn’t think so if it wasn’t in the 
Bible about the camel and the eye of the needle, and 
so I suppose I’ve got to think it is ; that is for some 
people. It didn’t seem one bit hard for Uncle Jim and 
Aunt Alida. They just went on and were good, every 
day. They try to make everybody happy and they 
give away more money to poor people and for asylums, 
libraries, hospitals and all those things ! And they’re 
so — so pleasant ! Just kind of get-up-every-day, like 
the sun, and shine right along till they go to bed. 
Don’t you believe any one can be dear and good that 
way easily ? I don’t see what difference it makes 
whether they’re rich or poor, as long as they just go 
along and don’t think about it ; just o/re nice. Aunt 
Alida is perfectly lovely and she doesn’t think any- 
thing about her splendid things, only that she has to 
be dressed to fit, same’s we are now, dressed right to 
sit on these door-steps.” 

Janie shook her head solemnly. She had a sensible, 
good face, that confirmed the; Chilton verdict that 

Janie Little was a comfortable child.” 

Beth’s dear little face was pretty, her dark blue eyes 


OK THE STEPS 


16 


were full of thought, love and fun — a strong combina- 
tion. Her coloring was beautiful, soft pink and white ; 
her decided little nose as pretty as that rarely pretty 
feature can be; her mouth sensitive and sweet, with 
hair of pure gold framing the charming whole. But it 
was rather, as Beth’s Cousin Hatalie in Kew York had 
often said, “ such a dear little face ” than its prettiness 
which made it charming. 

Janie shook her head till its brown braid bobbed. 
“ Everybody says riches are a snare, Beth,” she said. 

“ Well, all I know is that there are awfully cranky, 
cross, selfish people in this place who are far from rich, 
and you and I both know them, Janie Little,” Beth 
said impressively. “If all the millionaires in Hew 
York got up a money-loving club I don’t believe all 
the members together could possibly love money like 
old Mr. Kellogg on the corner of your street, and he 
isn’t rich, though he isn’t poor enough to be so close. 
Aunt Rebecca says. I guess it’s more the way you are 
than anything.” 

“ They say you’ll be awful rich some day, Beth, and 
I only hope it won’t spoil you,” said J anie, with an ex- 
cellent imitation of the elders whom she had heard say 
this. “We won’t be friends any more then, I sup- 
pose,” she added with a sigh that seemed to be fetched 
up from the spring heels of her decidedly little-girl- 
shoes. 

“ Oh, my sakes ! ” cried Beth impatiently. “ I’ll be 
Beth Bristead, won’t I ? Well, then ! We’re friends 
and we’ll be friends, of course, unless one of us gets be- 


16 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


witched — not beriched ! ” Beth stopped to laugh at 
herself. “ If you just kept right on, only did more, 
because you could do more, it wouldn’t matter what 
happened, would it ? But Aunt Kebecca says she’d be 
much obliged to people if they wouldn’t be foolish 
about Uncle Jim’s giving me money, just because I’ve 
visited him. She says she’s sure those same people 
don’t hand over their property because their relatives 
visit them. Aunt Rebecca’s funny ! She says she 
doesn’t want me to get notions — but I won’t, no matter 
what they say ; I don’t care. Only I do hope Aunt 
Alida won’t forget to send for me to make another 
visit ; she said she would and I’d hate not to go again. 
I do love them all so dearly ! ” 

Beth’s voice grew plaintive. 

“ No fear ! ” said Janie with conviction. “ You can 
see from that letter yesterday, and all you tell, that 
they’re crazy about you.” 

“ They’re so nice ! You never saw such a pretty girl 
as Natalie Cortlandt in all your life,” said Beth, bright- 
ening. “ Janie,” she added, “ you and I always saved 
our scraps and fed animals. And didn’t we always 
take them in and try to get them adopted? Well, 
don’t you think that’s just the way it would be ? If 
ever we had a great fortune wouldn’t we keep right on, 
only with bigger scraps to feed — and bigger things to 
give them to ? ” 

Maybe,” assented Janie. “ I guess they don’t need 
to worry over you, Bethie. You’ve got such a warm 
heart, mother says. Mother says if you’ve been made 


ON THE STEPS 


17 


a steam heater, there isn’t much sense in getting scared 
for fear you’ll turn into a refrigerator.” 

Beth laughed. ‘‘ Your mother is funny, but she’s 
sensible-funny. That’s what 1 meant.” 

“ Have you been seeing something moving down near 
that tree, that nicest elm, down there ? ” Janie asked 
unexpectedly. 

Beth shook her head. 

“ I have,” Janie said, “ and I’m pretty sure it’s a 
dog, a little black dog that acts lost and afraid to move. 
I’ve been seeing it a good while. It comes out a little 
way, then back it goes.” 

“ I wonder how we can get it, if it’s so afraid,” said 
Beth, rising at once to grapple with the problem. 
Janie and she had constituted themselves a Kescue 
Society from their epliest days. 

“ I’ll get some meat. Ella, Ella, can you give me 
some meat cut up small enough to make quite a good 
many pieces, so we can keep throwing it, yet big 
enough to smell like meat quite a good way off?” 
Janie heard Beth ask Ella Lowndes. 

“ Well, Beth Bristead, whatever can you want of such 
an order as \ha.t ! ” Ella cried. “ It’s kepuliar. And 
you didn’t say whether you and Janie’d prefer your 
meat raw or cooked ? ” 

“We don’t care — yes, it’s better raw. Janie thinks 
there’s a frightened lost dog down the street and 
we’ve got to coax him,” Beth said. “ Please hurry, 
Ella ; he might get more lost before we get there.” 

“ Oh, Beth, you ought to drive one of those animal- 


18 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


ances, like the cruelty preventing folks have, and go 
around just raking in lost creatures ! ” Ella sighed, with 
mock impatience, hastening to get the meat as she 
spoke. “ What do you suppose we’ll do if you catch 
him ? And we saved Tabby’s yellow kitten for you 
while you were gone.” 

“ A yellow kitten and a black dog would look nice, 
Ella. Did I say Janie thought he was black ? Thank 
you ever so much. I’m going to put it on that Mother 
Goose plate I had when I was a baby, because that has 
the little dog that ‘ laughed to see such sport ’ on it, 
and it ought to cheer up this one. Maybe it isn’t a 
dog,” added Beth, as she transferred the meat Ella 
had cut for her to her Mother Goose plate and ran 
back to Janie. 

The two little girls went down the street with soft- 
footed rapidity, eager to see what they could do, and 
for whom it was to be done, yet anxious not to alarm 
the possible unfortunate. 

“ If only Ella wouldn’t think it was funny to twist 
words — like ‘ kepuliar ’ for peculiar ! It isn’t funny, 
and it makes me uncomfortable ! But isn’t she funny 
when she doesn’t mean to be— -saying animalance for 
ambulance ! ” Beth said in Janie’s ear. 

“ There he is ! And he is a dog ! Doesn’t he stand 
low ? Quick, before he sees us ! ” Janie said, clutching 
Beth by her arm and paying no attention to her re- 
marks on English as spoken by Ella Lowndes. 

Beth saw a small creature, black, with tan ears, legs 
and tail, or mixed tan and black. His head was out of 


ON THE STEPS 


19 


proportion to his body and his legs were bowed into 
hoops. So much she saw but the dog saw, also, and 
dodged. 

“ He can’t go anywhere, because everywhere is in 
some one’s yard and he’d be afraid,” said Janie ex- 
citedly. “ Throw a piece of meat, Beth.” 

Beth threw dextrously toward the dog’s elm fortress. 
They waited. With great elongations of his already 
too-long body, and nervous looks in all directions, the 
timid creature let the tempting odor have its way with 
him — and ate the piece of meat. 

A little at a time Beth threw her bait, receding 
slowly. The small dog found his hunger unbearable 
after he had tasted food and cautiously crawled after 
them. Thus, economizing the lure they carried, Beth 
and Janie trolled the little dog to Aunt Kebecca’s gate 
where Beth held him with the last seven bits of meat, 
thrown at intervals, while Janie fetched milk from Ella 
Lowndes’ bounty. 

The small dog drank with rapid gulps and many 
starts and tremors. While he drank Beth lay down on 
the grass and insinuated herself forward, rather than 
crawled, so slow and gentle was her movement. When 
she could, she stretched her arm to its full length and 
with the extreme tip of her middle finger managed to 
rub the dog’s breast. He looked wildly toward the 
fence, but Janie had got around behind him. Beth 
made coaxing faces at him and talked soft baby talk to 
him convincingly, though her only argument was that 
he ‘‘ was a nice little, poor little bit of a lost puppity ! ” 


20 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Seeing retreat cut olf, perhaps feeling that the little 
hand which threw scraps of meat couldn’t be cruel, and 
finding it a very light, soft little finger that rubbed 
him, the small dog endured Beth’s touch. Then, hav- 
ing endured, suddenly, to her delight, he accepted her 
for what she was — the friend of beasties. 

Dropping on his side, he rolled over on his back and 
lay with his funny bowed fore legs and disproportioned 
big paws crooked sentimentally over his breast, his tan 
ears spread out on each side of his head, his big eyes 
rolling, showing their whites like a pickaninny’s, appre- 
hensive, yet gradually letting himself go more and more 
in the joy of confidence and the bliss of having his chest 
rubbed. 

“ I think he is tamed,” said Beth, edging nearer and 
putting the palm of her hand where her finger had been. 
“ Of course we’ll have to be careful not to move sud- 
denly. It makes a lot of difference with animals if 
people are quiet ; I’ve noticed that. But he never 
can be so frightened again. We’ll have to name 
him.” 

“ What do you think we can do with him ? ” asked 
Janie. 

“ Maybe Aunt Eebecca will let him stay,” said Beth 
hopefully. “She likes animals and we’ve only a cat 
and one little kitten. We’ll name him first. We 
ought to decide what he looks like and name him that, 
like Eve and the pig, you know ! ” 

“No, I don’t,” said Janie. 

“ Oh, it’s an old funny thing, one of those newspaper 


ON THE STEPS 


21 


things. How Adam and Eve were naming animals all 
day and had used up all the names by night, when the 
pig came along. They didn’t know what to call it, for 
they hadn’t a name left, but Eve said : ‘ It looks like a 
pig, it acts like a pig; let’s call it pig.’ And they did.” 
Beth chuckled, for she enjoyed that sort of nonsense. 

Janie looked troubled. She couldn’t see anything 
funny about the story and she felt annoyed, as people 
are by other people’s enjoyment of humor that they 
miss. “ If they hadn’t ever seen a pig how could they 
know that first one looked like one ? It was the first 
one, so it couldn’t look like a pig, if there wasn’t any 
other pig ! That isn’t funny.” She frowned and spoke 
in a worried tone. 

“ Yes, it is, and that’s why it is ; because it’s lovely 
nonsense,” explained Beth. “ Never mind, Janie. 
What does this puppity look like? We’ve got every- 
thing already named to choose from, anyway. I’ll 
have my right hand worn off soon ! ” 

“ He looks like a beagle, one of those rabbit dogs,” 
said literal Janie. 

“ Oh, but that is what he is ! ” objected Beth. “ That 
isn’t what I mean. He looks like a bundle.” 

“He looks more like a bungle!” cried Janie, sud- 
denly entering into the game. 

“He looks like a bologna sausage, burned black,” 
added Beth. “ He feels like a velvet pen wiper. His 
ears are so soft ! ” 

The puppy wagged his tail as Beth bent nearer him 
and this signal of friendliness rejoiced her, although it 


22 


BETH^S OLD HOME 


was only a motion of the tail-tip ; wagging an upside- 
down tail being difficult. 

“ He looks like a croquet wicket when he comes 
toward you, he’s so bow-legged,” was Janie’s contri- 
bution. 

“Wicket! Cricket!” Beth startled the small dog 
by her peal of laughter. “ He looks for all the world 
like a cricket, black, low near the ground, bent legs, 
all of him ! And Cricket is such a nice, homey, chirpy 
sort of a name ! I’m going to call him Cricket ! 
Cricket, Cricket, Cr-ic-ket ! Puppity Cricketty Crick ! ” 
Beth experimented, and the small black roll, which 
really did suggest a cricket, made a better tail wagging 
and ventured a quick lick on the kind little hand which 
had moved up now to stroke its ears. “ That name 
suits him — both ways. It fits him and he seems to say 
he likes it. Here is Aunt Kebecca ; I suppose he’ll be 
frightened all over again.” Beth took both hands now 
and rubbed both sides of Cricket’s neck, with mild 
pressure that held him, for the comical little fellow’s 
eyes were rolling wildly as Miss Bristead came through 
the gate. 

“Now, Beth, a dog !” Aunt Rebecca said reproach- 
fully. 

“ Well, but such a little dog, Aunt Rebecca ! ” urged 
Beth. “ He’s lost and frightened to death and very 
soft and the funniest thing! He likes me. We’ve 
named him Cricket ; he looks just like a cricket. And 
I’ve almost got him to chirp. He’s a beagle, we think. 
I don’t think Tabby will mind him.” 


ON THE STEPS 


23 


“Neither do I. He’s more likely to mind Tabby. 
I’m sure she will discipline him. Did you feed him ? ” 
Aunt Rebecca asked as Beth and Janie exchanged 
glances. This meant that there would be no difficulty 
in establishing this Cricket on Aunt Rebecca’s hearth. 

What neither little girl could know was that Aunt 
Rebecca, so glad to have Beth back again after half a 
year’s absence, so appreciative of the fact that Beth 
had turned away from the temptation of a summer at 
the sea, amid all the luxury and pleasure of her Uncle 
James Cortland t’s famous country estate, to come back 
to Aunt Rebecca’s plain home, because Aunt Rebecca 
wanted her, would have welcomed more than this little 
dog to please Beth. More than that Aunt Rebecca was 
afraid that Beth might miss the wonders she had shared 
all winter in New York and be lonely. 

Deep down in the loving heart that she hid. Aunt 
Rebecca loved and clung to this little grandniece whom 
she had reared. Aunt Rebecca was a lady of the best 
sort of traditions, the fine old New England colonial 
stock which is dying out, but her home was plain and 
there were no superfluous luxuries in it. Aunt Rebecca 
quite pathetically feared in secret that Beth might not 
be as happy with her as she had been before she went 
away. So if a pup called Cricket, or a real cricket, 
added to her enjoyment, dog or insect would be wel- 
comed now by Aunt Rebecca. 

“ He rolls his eyes as I never saw dog’s eyes roll be- 
fore,” Aunt Rebecca said, smiling down on Cricket whose 
eyes were rolling alarmingly from side to side as he 


24 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


nervously wondered what this new, tall person might 
portend for him. Here is a fat letter, so fat that it 
should have come under book rates, for you, Beth.” 

Beth jumped up and Cricket scuttled to the lilac 
bush where he sat sidewise, rolling his eyes. But Beth 
was delighted to see that he wagged his tail a little 
when she said : “ Cricket ! Puppity ! ” 

“ It’s from Cortmeer, of course,” Beth said, receiving 
the letter with the seal of “ Cortmeer,” her uncle’s 
country place, on its back. “ I suppose they’ve all 
written. Yes, they have,” she added laying various 
sheets of paper, covered with several different hand- 
writings, upon her knee. “The first is Uncle Jim. 
Oh, he says Tim has started Trump — no ! Tim is 
bringing Trump himself ! They thought it would be 
better to let Tim come along to see that Trump did not 
suffer on the journey. Tim is so good to horses ! He’s 
a perfectly noble stableman, anyway. Won’t I be glad 
to see dear old Tim ! We are real friends, if he is so 
much older and takes care of Uncle Jim’s horses ! I’m 
almost sure Tim is fond of me, and I’m so fond of Tim ! 
He’d make you laugh if you had mumps! Won’t I be 
glad to see him ! But wonH I be glad to see my own 
darling, darling little pony — Trump ! I’ve tried to tell 
you about him. Aunt Kebecca and Janie, but nothing I 
could say would give any one an idea of how he really 
is ! A live Shetland, you see, is so different from talk- 
ing about him. Trump’s nose is the softest thing! 
And his eyes under his bang ! He shakes hands ; did 
I tell you ? The prince taught him to dance, but he 


ON THE STEPS 25 

doesn’t do it quite as nicely for me. Oh, I’ll hug 
Trump to pieces ! ” 

Beth applied herself once more to her many paged 
bulletin from Cortmeer with eyes black from excited 
joy and her cheeks burning. 

“ Janie and I will have such drives ! ” she murmured, 
not yet able wholly to lose the thought that her pony 
was on his way to her, though she was interested in 
the letter. But after a moment’s reading she uttered 
an exclamation and the color faded from her face. 

“ Well, what do you think Aunt Alida says ? ” Beth 
said, looking up with sober and frightened eyes. 
“ Uncle Jim just told me about Tim and Trump com- 
ing ; he said he’d leave the news for Aunt Alida. And 
Aunt Alida says they have to close Cortmeer, or else 
get some one to stay there and look after the children, 
because she has to go to Europe, and Uncle Jim will 
not let her go alone. Aunt Alida has a sister-in-law. 
Aunt Justine the Cortlandts call her. She isn’t well ; 
she lives in California ; her husband was Aunt Alida’s 
brother, but he’s dead. This says that Aunt Justine is 
in Europe and is sick there, with her girls, two of them, 
about as old as Natalie and Alys. Aunt Alida says she 
has to go to look after them and Uncle Jim will go 
too, but not the children. Isn’t that too bad ! Aunt 
Alida says she’d leave Cortmeer open if she had some 
one to take charge. Miss Deland — you know — she’s 
our perfectly splendid private tutoress; I told you 
about her — Miss Deland can’t come because she’s en- 
gaged to travel and teach a kind of stupid-half-sick 


26 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


girl this summer. And there’s nobody else Aunt Alida 
can think of whom she would just like to ask. You 
know Aunt Alida is not particular about the girls the 
way some of her friends are with their girls. As long 
as there’s somebody they don’t care ; they have a 
chaperon because you’ve got to have an older person 
for girls, and it’s the fashionable thing they care for. 
Now Aunt Alida doesn’t think about the fashion ; what 
she wants is the vighi person, not the right thing. So 
I know just how it is for her to pick one out.” Beth 
wrinkled her round, childish face with an expression of 
mature sympathy and anxiety which was amusing. 

“ I’ve no doubt that Mrs. Cortlandt will find some 
one,” said Aunt Rebecca. “ There are a great many 
sensible, reliable women in the world, and plenty of 
them who need situations. There’s Lydia Tappan ; 
she could give up sewing this summer and look after 
the Cortlandt children. But I suppose she isn’t pre- 
cisely the right sort ? ” 

‘‘ No, Aunt Rebecca,” said Beth lowering her voice, 
though Miss Tappan, sewing up stairs at the rear of 
the house, could not possibly hear her. “ You see Miss 
Tappan is used to help like Ella Lowndes, and she 
would not be able to get on very well with a lot of real 
servants, trained ones. You’ve got to be trained, too, 
to fit in with their training ; I found that out. Mrs. 
Hodgman would keep the house, I suppose ; she’s the 
housekeeper. I love her ; you would, too. Well, isn’t 
it hard to manage ? If it was anybody here had to 
leave their children they’d just pick out one of the 


ON THE STEPS 


27 


neighbors who kept house about the same way and 
wasn’t careless about airing sheets, or looking after 
rubbers on feet, or going to Sunday-school, or things 
like that, and ask if the children might board there 
while she was gone.” Beth looked so serious and was 
so far from intending to jest that Aunt Kebecca, who 
rarely laughed aloud, laughed heartily. 

“There will doubtless be a solution found, small 
Beth,” said Aunt Eebecca, going into the house. 

“ I must go home,” announced Janie, who had been 
listening with absorbed interest to the news items and 
the revelations of another mode of life which they 
brought out. “ Wouldn’t you think your Aunt Kebecca 
would take your cousins to board here ? She has such 
lots of room she doesn’t use and they’d like it — you, 
too.” 

Beth recognized the nobility of this suggestion from 
Janie, who had hard work not to be jealous of Beth’s 
love for her attractive and fortunate girl cousins. 
“ They wouldn’t like it a bit, Janie, and Aunt Kebecca 
hasn’t that sort of room. Good-bye. Come over after 
supper if you can ; morning, anyhow. I’ve got to read 
what JSTat and Alys wrote about it.” And Beth took 
her way toward the door as Janie went out the gate. 

Beth was much pleased to see, as she looked back, 
that Cricket was creeping toward the house, with many 
nervous starts of his elongated body, yet cautiously ad- 
vancing none the less. 


CHAPTER II 


TRUMP — AND trumps! 

B eth jumped out of bed early the next morning. 

It seemed perfectly natural to hear the birds sing- 
ing more than usual and more sweetly, as she fancied 
they did. For was not Trump to arrive, under Tim’s 
escort, and should not any sympathetic bird hail the 
day with song ? Beth surprised herself by getting 
down-stairs at half-past five, and surprised Miss Tap- 
pan, who was already bent over a sheet of paper spread 
on the dining-room table. 

“ My land, Beth, you actually sent a chill down me ! ” 
cried Miss Tappan. “ I didn’t hear you coming ! I 
wasn’t one mite satisfied with the way they’d cut that 
cape pattern I’m going to use for your Aunt Rebecca’s 
new one. ’Tisn’t shaped the way I like it on the sides. 
I’m pretty sure I can better it. If ever you cut pat- 
terns, child, don’t use newspaper, ’less there’s actually 
no other to be had. It tears so and gets so uncertain 
after you’ve laid it away. I got to thinking how I’d 
run the sides of that cape down and I couldn’t stay in 
bed to save me ; I had to get up and try it before Ella 
needed the dining-table to set for breakfast. What in 
the world got you up so early ? ” 

“ A Trump-pet ! ” cried Beth with a little scream of 
delight over her own cleverness. 

28 


TEUMP— AND TEUMPS ! 


29 


“ A trumpet ! ’’ echoed Miss Tappan. “ You dreamt 
it, Beth. There hasn’t been a sound, except roosters 
and that yellow kitten cavorting, since I woke up, and 
that was about four o’clock.” 

“Not a trumpet; a Trump-pet, Miss Tappan,” 
laughed Beth. “ Don’t you remember ? My pet 
Trump is coming to-day. I couldn’t sleep.” 

“ Now I wonder if you’re going to get witty ! ” ex- 
claimed Miss Tappan, in much the tone she would have 
used if she had been wondering if Beth were going to 
have the measles. “ The Bristeads were alw^ays noted 
for their wit. They say your father used to keep the 
other boys laughing so they couldn’t draw a full breath 
till they separated. And your grandfather, your Aunt 
Eebecca’s brother, he was one of the dry sort that 
would ’most kill you laughing at him, because you 
always had to have a minute’s grace to see he hadn’t 
said something sad, he’d look so sober ! I knew him 
well ; we all went to school together, Koger and Ee- 
becca Bristead and I. Koger was ’way ahead of any 
other scholar in school, wonderful smart ! I remember 
once ” 

Beth knew that desperate measures, up to the verge 
of rudeness, were necessary to check Miss Tappan when 
she began to recall instances of Koger Bristead’s clever- 
ness. The little girl knew that Lydia Tappan had re- 
mained Lydia Tappan because her girlish heart had 
been set upon the utterly unattainable aristocratic 
Koger Bristead. It was interesting to hear Miss Tap- 
pan’s tales, though difficult to realize that the brilliant 


30 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


youth of whom she talked had been older than Aunt Re- 
becca and Beth’s grandfather. It is not easy to think 
of a person at once as a boy and a grandfather. 

This morning Beth felt that there was not time to 
hear about “ The Boy Who Became a Grandfather,” as 
the serial story might have been called. It was not 
quite six o’clock in the morning and Trump might not 
arrive till the six o’clock train at night, yet there was 
no time to waste. 

“ Miss Tappan — excuse me for interrupting you — 
but do you think you would know how to let out my 
riding habit, if it got too tight this summer ? ” Beth 
asked. “ Of course it’s just right now, but it might 
get too tight by and by. It would be a shame to out- 
grow it.” 

“ There isn’t a bit of need of outgrowing it,” affirmed 
Miss Tappan, falling into the trap of talking about her 
work, as Beth knew she would. Now there would be 
plenty of openings for Beth to run away, ending her 
chat with Miss Tappan, which she could not have done 
had Miss Tappan been launched into a long reminiscence. 
After Miss Tappan had, in imagination, set a colored 
broadcloth vest under Beth’s riding coat, which she 
made cutaway with two buttons, and had put a panel 
of the same color into the skirt, Ella Lowndes ap- 
peared. 

“Well, I’d like to know what gets you two up so 
early ! ” Ella said, halting in the doorway. “ I was 
dreamin’ about bees swarmin’, and then I lay between 
wake and sleep, and still they kept on boomin’. 


TEUMP— AND TEUMPS ! 81 

Finally I got so’s t’ I made out ’tvvas voices down- 
stairs.” 

“I’m going to turn off a lot of work to-day and 
make time to cut out your mohair, Ellie,” announced 
Miss Tappan energetically, and Beth slipped away 
from the beginning of a discussion concerning separate 
waists and waists fastened on skirts. 

The barn of the old Bristead place had not been used 
since Aunt Kebecca was left alone in the venerable 
house. A carpenter was to set in order one of the 
stalls for Master Trump’s use. Beth spent most of that 
day watching and helping him with suggestions. She 
stood up against the wall at the end of the stall to let 
Mr. Abbott measure for the manger, because she knew 
precisely how high against her shoulder Trump’s head 
came. Beth laughed to see the difference between this 
height and that at which the old manger had been 
placed. 

“ Trump would have had to have a high chair to eat 
at the old table,” she cried. “ I think maybe it would 
be better to make a kind of box thing to set the water 
pail in, Mr. Abbott. I have to own up that Trump 
tips over his pail after he’s had what he wants, even if 
it is still halt full. Then after a while he gets thirsty 
and wishes he hadn’t done it.” 

“ There’s many a taller man than your Trump who 
upsets his pail and wastes his substance and repents 
when it’s spilled, Beth,” said Mr. Abbott, who was so 
given to drawing morals that his wife could hardly 
endure his carpentry. 


32 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ To think what a preacher he’d of been 1 ” she per- 
petually sighed. 

As it came to pass Trump arrived on the train that 
reached Chilton at 4:12 in the afternoon. Tim tele- 
graphed ahead the hour of his arrival, for which Beth 
was deeply grateful. 

“ Tim is so funny, Aunt Kebecca, that you’d never 
imagine what a beautiful side there is to his character. 
And I think that’s partly because people don’t think 
much about the character of their stablemen who talk 
with a brogue. But I’m very fond of Tim. You can 
see how lovely he is to telegraph, because he’d know 
I’d be fidgetting all day long, getting worn out waiting 
for Trump, and, besides, I’d want to meet him. So 
Tim telegraphs. Don’t you think any one who is so 
thoughtful is really a gentleman underneath ? ” 

Aunt Kebecca’s crisp, short laugh as she looked into 
the earnest face raised to hers was one of assent, and 
she said : “ I shall be as polite as possible to your Tim, 
Beth ; if that’s what you are trying to bring about, you 
needn’t be afraid of my being a trial to you.” 

“ Oh, Aunt Kebecca, I never ! I never thought of 
it, truly ! I know you’d be nice to Tim. You’d take 
more pains with him than with some friend of Uncle 
Jim’s,” said Beth, shoAving how well she understood 
her great-aunt. “ I just wanted you to see how nice he 
is. I’m not going to tell May and Edith and Ruth, nor 
Nell and Daisy, that Trump is coming on the 4 : 12. 
Janie and I must go down alone to meet him. Do you 
think I could wear my habit, so, in case Tim has the 


TEUMP— AND TRUMPS ! 33 

saddle and bridle right with him, I could ride him 
home ? ” 

“ Ride Tim home, child ? You are too big for pick- 
a-back. But I’d wear my habit in case you had a 
chance to ride Trump,” said Aunt Rebecca with a 
twinkle. 

“ Aunt Rebecca never used to play with me this 
way,” thought wondering Beth. She did not realize 
that it all came from Aunt Rebecca’s constant joy in 
having Beth again. 

“I don’t believe you thought I meant Tim, Aunt 
Rebecca. I thought I’d run tell Janie to be ready to 
go to the station with me. I’ll have to hurry 1 I’ve 
got to go to Janie’s, come back and get ready and go 
down — and it’s almost half-past two ! ” Beth looked 
flurried. 

“ And it must take twenty minutes to go to Janie’s 
and back, and almost another twenty to get to the 
station ! ” Aunt Rebecca smiled at her. “ Run along, 
Trump’s impatient little mistress ! ” 

Janie needed no urging to go to meet Trump. Beth 
ran aU the way to the Little house and home again, 
made record time getting on the habit and riding hat 
which never had grown familiar enough to be com- 
monplace to her, and she and Janie started for the 
station before three. 

“ We shall probably have to wait nearly an hour for 
that train — more if it’s late,” said Janie ; they did not 
walk with arms entwined as usual, for Janie could not 
help feeling Beth the least bit unfamiliar in that perfect 


34 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


fitting and absolutely correct riding habit, the like of 
which Chilton could not boast. 

“ Not if our clocks happen to be slow,” said Beth. 
“ You never can tell how much a clock may have lost 
in the night. Anyway, I’d rather wait where I can 
look up and down the track than at home between wall 
paper, wouldn’t you ? ” 

“ Every time ! ” Janie laughed. “ Though that 
sounds as if you were some kind of a pressed autumn 
leaf.” 

May Kemp, Edith Thayer, Kuth Kadford, and the 
twins, Nell and Daisy Patton, saw Beth and Janie 
pass, and accurately diagnosed the symptom of Beth’s 
riding habit. 

“ I’ll bet they’re going to the station to meet Beth’s 
pony ! ” cried Edith. “ They never told us, so they’d 
surprise us coming past. Let’s surprise them ! ” 

“ How ? ” asked Kuth, always inclined to be timid 
and marveling at Edith’s daring. 

I’ll tell you ! Come over here ! ” And when the 
others were crowded around her Edith unfolded her 
suddenly formed plan. 

While their friends plotted, Beth and Janie walked 
up and down the station platform, Janie the picture of 
a contented little village girl of eleven, Beth eloquent 
of one of New York’s best tailors in every line of her 
stylish little riding habit, with its skirt caught up to 
allow her to walk, her gauntlet gloves, her high boots 
and her stock carried correctly under her arm, its silver 
capped butt protruding below her elbow. 


TEUMP— AND TETJMPS ! 


35 


Janie felt, though she could not appreciate, the per- 
fection of Beth’s appearance. “ I look as if I was go- 
ing to sell you huckleberries,” she said suddenly. 

Beth stared, then swayed with laughter. Once in a 
while Janie hit the mark with a speech like this, but 
it always came as a surprise from her. 

“ And I ought to look as though I probably couldn’t 
buy them, ’cause I couldn’t afford to, but what I really 
look like is a sort of hook for Uncle Jim and Aunt 
Alida to hang their kindness on, for that’s what I am. 
Just look at this riding habit — there wasn’t a nicer one 
in the park ! And look at Trump — when he gets here, 
so you can see him ! Nothing in the world but Their 
love for me ! ” Beth spoke as if her beloved kindred’s 
pronouns must be written with capital letters. “ I’m a 
hat-rack, that’s what I am ; nothing else, all hung over 
with their dear love ! But, Janie, when I think that 
almost the last time I wore this habit I rode with a 
prince, a real king’s son, and he made up the Order of 
tbe Strong Hearted, just for Natalie, Alys, Dirk and 
me, and we promised to choose always to do what we 
knew was right, no matter whether we liked it or not, 
because that was what it meant to be strong of heart, 
and the prince put this ring on my finger — one just 
like it we each have, you know — and I had on this 
very selfsame habit, it feels so tight on me I don’t see 
how the seams hold ! I think I shall never be able to 
give this habit away when I outgrow it ! Wasn’t it a 
wonderful, wonderful thing to have happen to me, 
Beth Bristead of Chilton, Massachusetts ? Janie^ 


36 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


listen ! ” Beth dropped her voice, though no one was 
in sight, it was still so long before train time. “ Do 
you think it would be foolish for me to lay this habit 
away in a perfectly holeless bag, so no moths could get 
in — I’d brush it first and see none was in, the way 
Aunt Kebecca does — and just keep it for my little 
girl, in case I ever did marry and have a little girl ? 
Do you ? ” 

“ Of course I don’t,” said Janie promptly. “ Every- 
body ought to keep glorious relics for their children.” 

“ Well, of course I may not marry. I think I should 
rather not, but work for the poor. The tenements in 
New York are awful, Janie ! I think I’d rather do 
good to some one than marry. Of course,” added 
Beth, whose strong tendency to perfect honesty was 
hard to down, “ there are so many girls in Massachu- 
setts you might never have to decide.” 

“You might think that if you married any one you 
wouldn’t do anything but harm to them, the way you 
said that,” Janie laughed softly ; sometimes she found 
Beth decidedly funny. “ If you want to work for the 
poor you put away the habit, anyway, and give it to 
my children, because /shall marry, for I want to make 
cookies, just like my mother makes for me, for my 
children. There’s the ticket agent at last, Beth. It 
must be a little nearer train time ! ” 

“ Well, I suppose after you’ve been in a place twenty- 
five minutes it must be nearer time for what you’re 
waiting for than when you came,” sighed Beth. “ But 
it certainly takes long enough for that clock to move 


TEtrMP--AND TEUMPS ! 


37 


on five minutes ! If I had a watch I’d see if the hands 
were sticking.” 

The clock hands were doing their duty, although 
their impelling seconds could not keep pace with Beth’s 
impatient pulses. Train time grew nearer — arrived ! 

And the train was on time ! It came gliding along 
the track, whistling a warning below the bend, as 
though it bore no unusual freight. Y et, as it stopped, 
there was Tim already on the second step of a car, one 
hand on the rail, the other saluting Beth with the hat 
it held and with the utmost enthusiasm, the kindly 
Irish face on the broad grin. 

“ Oh, doesn’t he look like New York ! ” cried Beth 
involuntarily, swift longing for the dear people who 
had sent Tim rushing over her. 

Tim went at once to the rear of the train and Beth 
followed, understanding Tim’s signal. Yes, there in 
his car at the rear was Trump, actually sticking his 
precious nose out and sniffing. 

“ Oh, does it smell like home, sweet home ? ” cried 
Beth, clasping and unclasping her hands and jumping 
up and down, while three trainmen prepared to help 
Tim unload the pony, and passengers on the train 
looked out with fullest sympathy, seeing that the ex- 
cited little girl in the riding habit and the pony were 
each other’s. 

When Trump, who had not a pony’s contrariness, 
had marched down the cross-barred plank laid for him, 
Belh seized him around the neck rapturously. And 
Trump knew her, for he whinnied and softly touched 


38 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


her face with his velvet nose, implying : “ Beth dear, 
I didn’t know you were here in Massachusetts or I’d 
hav^ minded my traveling less. I’m glad Shakespeare 
knew when he said : ‘ Journeys end in lovers’ meeting.’ ” 

If he had said this Beth would have thought that a 
Shakespearian quotation was a little beyond what she 
would have expected from Trump ; a little ! 

Tim took Beth’s outstretched hand in both of his. 
“ Miss Beth,” he said, “ it would make an oyster dance 
to see you, so it would ! The way we all do be missin’ 
you is not to be believed. Your cousins is pinin’ for 
you. Miss Natalie we knew’d feel bad, but Miss Alys, 
in her way, is no better. And Master Dirk is crabbed 
so there’s no handlin’ him, he’s that angry to think 
you’re away. ‘ It’s plain silliness, so ’tis,’ Master Dirk 
says, ‘ whin we’d be havin’ fun the day long if she 
hadn’t gone off there, because she thought she ought 
to. Plague on the silly old Order that makes you 
chose your duty anyhow ! ’ So you see, Miss Beth, 
there’s no say in’ the harm you’ll be doin’, stayin’ away ! 
And indeed it’s easy seein’ your aunt and uncle miss 
you terrible. You were wise. Miss Beth, bringing your 
stock and wearin’ your habit. I have your saddle and 
bridle here.” Tim pointed to a leather case that he 
carried. 

“ Trump isn’t too tired from his journey to be rid- 
den ? ” Beth felt of the pony’s right leg anxiously. 

“ Not he ! But he’d have to walk up anyway and 
what is your feather weight on him ? He ought to be 
ridden further than it’s likely you live, Miss Beth, after 


TRUMP— AND TRUMPS ! 


39 


standin’ in the car so long,” Tim assured her, saddling 
Trump and holding his forelock in a firm grasp while 
he put on the bridle, “ for a Shetland is a scalawag at 
trickin’ you,” Tim explained. 

“ If you ride. Miss Beth, wfill your friend walk ? 
Your uncle is sendin’ you as fine a pony cart as ever I 
saw,” said Tim. 

“ Oh, Tim ! And I was wondering how I could take 
people driving ! ” cried Beth, in a rapture. “ Tim, I 
beg your pardon. This is my best friend, Janie Little. 
I forgot to introduce you. I thought Janie and you 
would walk and Trump wouldn’t trot one trot, and so 
we’d keep together. Of course Janie will ride Trump, 
too, but this first time he ever saw Chilton I thought 
I’d like to bring him home.” 

According to this arrangement the quartette started. 
Trump in * the road with Beth ; Tim on the sidewalk 
with his leather case, lightened of the saddle; Janie 
beside Tim with nothing but her awestruck admiration 
— ^which was a heavier load than Tim’s or Trump’s. 

“ Queer how far it seemed to the station when we 
were going and how much farther I’d like it to be, 
now Trump is here — if it weren’t that you have to 
walk,” Beth said, her addition an afterthought. 

“ Well, Miss Beth, you have Shetland pony ladies in 
your place; Trump will match fine with the size of 
them we’re cornin’ to ! ” said Tim grinning. 

Coming down the street toward them were five cari- 
catures of elegance, Edith, May, Ruth, Nellie and 
Daisy, all in long skirts, various but highly grown-up 


40 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


wraps and coats, hats that were impressive, to say the 
least, while each lady had a pair of opera, or field, 
glasses, except one, Edith, and she used a small tele- 
scope with great effect. 

“ Well, for pity’s sake ! ” exclaimed Janie stopping 
short. 

But Beth set surprised Trump into a gallop, turned 
him up on the sidewalk and sent the five magnificent 
personages who had come out in this guise to meet him 
flying with frantic haste in all directions, screaming, 
very like a flock of panic-stricken biddies. 

Tim slapped his leg in high enjoyment of this 
comedy. Janie laughed till she had to lean against a 
tree to get her breath and Beth fell over on Trump’s 
neck, laughing till she cried and had to dry her eyes 
on the pony’s mane. 

Trump having done what his mistress bade him, 
stopped and cocked his eye out from his thatched front 
of forehead as if to ask for further orders. 

“ Come back, girls ! ” gasped Beth. “ Trump wouldn’t 
hurt you, even if I’d let him. Come back and see him ! ” 
She turned the pony back into the road and one by one 
the five girls returned and gathered around Beth. 

Beth dismounted and ordered Trump to shake hands 
with his new acquaintances. The shaggy little fellow 
offered his hoof to each in turn, as Beth indicated his 
duty, and his conquest of the five was instantaneous 
and complete. 

“ You spoiled the whole thing ! ” grumbled Edith, 
after they had hugged Trump, not to their satisfaction. 


TEUMP— AND TEUMPS ! 


41 


but to a point at which they were able to proceed. 

We were going to pretend we didn’t know you and 
look at you through our glasses and talk about the pony 
as if he were ’way off and we couldn’t tell whether he 
was an elephant or not. It was going to be real fun.” 

“ I’m satisfied,” said Beth. “ It was fun enough for 
us as it was, wasn’t it, Trump ? ” 

“ The reason that pony’s called Trump, ladies,” Tim 
volunteered, “ is because he turns every thrick.” 

“ And hearts are always trump for me, because every- 
body loves Trump,” added Beth, her meaning clear, if 
her statement lacked amplification. 

At Miss Bristead’s gate the five masquerading girls 
left Beth, reluctantly, and Janie only lingered long 
enough to see Trump established in the remodeled stall. 
Aunt Eebecca, followed by Miss Tappan, with Ella 
Lowndes a close third, came out to see this ceremony. 

“ I don’t wonder that you are rather upset by the 
charms of your tidbit of a pony, Beth,” Aunt Eebecca 
said, with so much sympathy that Beth was delighted. 
She threw her arms around her great-aunt and hugged 
her hard. 

“ I didn’t know you’d really love him, but you can 
always tell by the way people look at animals whether 
they love them, or are just being kind,” she cried. 

And I think Tidbit is a lovely name for a pony ! If 
he weren’t named, that’s what I would call him.” 

Beth was no less delighted with Miss Bristead’s kindly 
manner to Tim. Her winter in New York had opened 
her eyes to many things. The old brown Bristead 


42 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


house was simple in its furnishings, though it did pos- 
sess some fine old mahogany and beautiful colonial 
china and silver. It was almost shabby in spots and 
many of its miscalled ornaments were in the taste of 
two generations ago, when highly colored flowered 
china vases were set up in pairs, pictures were of the 
sort that “ tells a story,” and not then as an artist tells 
it, and wonderfully ugly worsted work was done by 
women, work at once ugly and more than useless. 

Beth wondered if Tim would think the house she 
had been brought up in was poor and mean. He could 
not be expected to estimate its dignity as an American, 
or a man of another class would. Beth had been 
secretly afraid that Aunt Rebecca might not quite 
understand how to treat a Hew York groom. 

But Aunt Rebecca had precisely the flne lady’s man- 
ner toward Tim that Aunt Alida bore him in Hew 
York, the kindliness that has no fear of losing its dig- 
nity, because that dignity is so inbred nothing could 
lessen it. 

‘‘ There is a letter here for you, Beth,” said Aunt 
Rebecca after Tim had been sent to his room ; he would 
be obliged to stay over night at Chilton, no train con- 
nections being right to take him back. “ It was in- 
closed in one to me — from your Aunt Alida, Mrs. 
Cortlandt. She told me what your letter will tell you 
and said that if I objected to this suggestion I should 
not give you your letter from your cousins. I do not 
know whether I approve of the suggestion or not, but I 
do know it is impossible for me to decide upon Mrs, 


TEUMP— AND TEUMPS I 


43 


Cortlandt’s request without talking it over with sensible 
and truthful little Miss Elizabeth Bristead. So here is 
your letter, Beth. Read it.’’ 

Beth took the letter which her great-aunt handed 
her, amazement and considerable anxiety written upon 
her round face. As she read the amazement deepened, 
the color began to spread from her throat to her fair 
hair and she uttered occasional little unconscious notes 
of accompaniment to her reading. 

Aunt Rebecca ! ” Beth said at last, dropping the 
letter. “ What — do — you — think — of that ? ” 

“ I do not know what I think of it. At first it seemed 
to me utterly impossible to consider it. Now I’m not 
so sure, but neither am I sure of the opposite,” said 
Aunt Rebecca. “ Mrs. Cortlandt asked me if I could 
find a comfortable, suitable boarding place for her chil- 
dren in Chilton. I suppose that is what the children 
say to you ? ” 

“Yes, Aunt Rebecca,” Beth answered, returning to 
her letter. “ Not so much about that, though. Natalie 
and Alys wrote this letter, first one a little while, then 
the other. Dirk wrote a few lines at the end, not 
many, because he despises writing, but he said a lot 
when you think about it. He said : ‘ Dear Beth : For 
goodness’ sake let us come to Chilton to spend this sum- 
mer ! You’ve got to, or you’ll have a dead, yours with 
love. Cousin Dirk.’ ” Beth laughed and Aunt Rebecca 
smiled absently. 

“ Natalie is nice. Aunt Rebecca ! ” Beth went on. 
“ She says : ‘ Beth darling, we are quite crazy to see 


44 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


you. Please don’t let any nonsense come between our 
wish and granting it. I know you’ll be thinking that 
Cortmeer is very line and maybe we won’t be happy in 
Chilton. That’s nonsense. You had a Wonder- Winter 
with us. How give us a Sunny-Summer with you — I 
can’t think of any better name in a hurry ! We should 
love to see life in that nice old-fashioned manner you 
gave us peeps into ! It would be unlike anything we’ve 
had, nicer than Cortmeer in no end of ways. And, 
listen to this, Beth ! Father says he should go away 
perfectly satisfied and grateful if he could leave us ab- 
sorbing some of the atmosphere that made you the 
Anomaly and Survival you are! Can’t you hear fa- 
ther say that ? He al^vays called you the A. and S. 1 
Mother and father, both, are anxious to hear that you 
can find some corner in Chilton that will harbor us. 
Please, write at once and say : “ Come ! Beth.” 

You could telegraph. Your pretty nearly frantic, lov- 
ing Natalie.’ ” 

The elder and younger Miss Bristead looked at each 
other, relenting, troubled, gratified. Beth was eager, 
yet afraid to hear her aunt say : ‘‘ Yes.” She was half 
afraid that Chilton “ would not do ” for the luxurious 
Cortlandts. 

“I suppose we could take them here,” said Aunt 
Bebecca, and Beth actually jumped. 


CHAPTER III 


THE UNBELIEVABLE DECISION 
FTER Beth had been stunned for a moment by 



J~\. the mere suggestion that her Cortlandt cousins 
should become inmates of the old Bristead house that 
summer, and that it was actually Aunt Rebecca who 
had made the suggestion, her brain began to whirl as 
visions of what this would mean arose before her. 

They were partly dismaying, partly delightful visions. 
How could Natalie and Alys, especially Alys, be made 
happy in the old house, with only Ella Lowndes to do 
its work, and amid its entire simplicity, not to say plain 
manner of existence ? These girls who lived amid a 
luxury such as Chilton had never seen, who had their 
own maid and took constant service as a matter of 
course like the service of the daily rising sun to the 
earth ? 

On the other hand what fun it would be — if it were 
fun and not distressing — to have Natalie and Alys in 
Chilton, let all the girls, especially Janie, know them, 
show them the spots Beth loved best, have them share 
her life which, if it fitted them at all, would bring her 
cousins into closer intimacy with her than was possible 
in New York ! 

But all that Beth said in reply to Aunt Rebecca’s 


45 


46 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


suggestion, after she had sufSciently recovered breath 
to speak, was : “ Here ? In this house. Aunt Eebecca? ” 

And Aunt Kebecca had said : “ I can’t think of a 
place to send them. That was merely a suggestion, 
not to be taken seriously. I have not had time to con- 
sider a serious suggestion. It might be wise, in regard 
to your future relations with your cousins, to let them 
come. What do you say, Beth ? Do you want them 
here ? ” 

“If they would be happy here, I do,” said Beth. 
“Why would they stay all summer. Aunt Kebecca? 
Does Aunt Alida expect to stay in Europe with her 
sister-in-law? I thought she was only going to visit 
her a little while.” 

“ I should not consider four or five months long to 
stay if I had crossed the ocean,” said Aunt Kebecca. 
“ But those people go back and forth ! Your aunt 
writes me that they do not expect to stay longer than 
the first of August, at the latest, but she would like me 
to decide her children’s coming and the place for them 
as if it were to be longer, because she might find her 
sister-in-law required her presence longer than she fore- 
saw. I’ll ask Mrs. Walker whether she could take 
them, if they were to come. I can’t think of another 
place in the village where there would be a remote 
chance of their going — and fitting.” 

“Oh, Aunt Kebecca! Mrs. Walker is exactly like 
that line Uncle Jim loved to say: ‘The wolf’s lone 
howl on Oonalaska’s shore.’ Lonely and dreary, like 
the wind through a keyhole ! ” cried Beth. 


THE UNBELIEVABLE DECISION 


47 


Aunt Hebecca laughed. “ Perhaps the children 
would make her like the May breeze in an orchard; 
it is nearly May,” she said. “ Well, we’ll see ! It seems 
to me an absurd plan to send them here and probably 
it won’t work out.” 

Beth knew that the only thing for her to do was to 
drop the subject while Aunt Rebecca considered it. It 
was not easy to keep silence about it when it filled her 
mind to the exclusion of all else. The only thing that 
helped Beth to say nothing while Aunt Rebecca thought 
over the Cortlandts’ coming to Chilton was that she 
was not sure which way she. herself wanted it decided. 

Beth spoke of it to Tim ; she considered him a com- 
petent adviser, since he knew the Cortlandts so well 
and now had seen Chilton. 

“ It’s the first I’ve heard of it. Miss Beth,” said Tim, 
as they walked along. Beth insisted upon showing Tim 
the dam at the back of the Bristead place where it came 
out upon a country road at its rear and where there had 
once been a grist mill, turned by the river which a rude 
person might have called a brook. “ There’s no need of 
me tellin’ you your uncle an’ aunt wouldn’t be after con- 
sultin’ me about it. But sure I think it would be a fine 
thing, all ways. My young ladies would be gettin’ in- 
side information in old-fashioned ways of housekeepin’, 
an’ the like, an’ they’d enjoy it beyond tellin’. Sure, I 
wish you’d take me for the summer, Miss Beth, an’ 
Mrs. Tim an’ the little Tims along wid me ! But I’m to 
be left in cha-arge of your uncle’s stables an’ kennels. 
I must teach that little dog. Cricket, a thrick or so this 


48 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


evenin’ ; if he proves bright I can do it, but I’ll be 
leavin’ early. He’s not to say the finest beagle, Miss 
Beth, but he’s not such a poor one, neither ; fair good 
he is, of the bow-legged beagles. He’s that scared of a 
body that you might think he’d been made into a frank- 
furter more than once! It’s pretty up here, so ’tis. 
Miss Beth, calm an’ quiet, an’ country.” 

Tim walked on in serene satisfaction, sucking at his 
unlighted pipe, which respect for Beth forbade him 
lighting, and surveying the scene with approval, while 
he sang in a high falsetto, just as he used to in Hew 
York : 

“ ^ ’Tis the bells of Shandon 
That sound so grand on 
The pleasant waters 
Of the river Lee.’ ” 

“How I know!” cried Beth, clapping her hands. 
“ This river that runs in here is a branch of the big 
river and it hasn’t any name. It is called Bristead’s 
Branch, because my great-grandfather and great-great- 
grandfather owned all the land it watered. I’m going 
to call it the Timlee Kiver, after you and the river Lee 
you always sing about. In honor of your bringing 
Trump to me, you see.” 

“ Miss Beth, how’ll I ever thank you ! ” exclaimed 
Tim, without a smile. “ It’s a honor, so ’tis, to be 
havin’ natural beauties an’ geography spots named after 
you, much as if you were an explorer, yet missin’ the 
serious ill-convenience an explorer puts up wid, gettin’ 


THE UNBELIEVABLE DECISION 


49 


eaten by black flies, an’ scorpy-ons, an’ cannibals, an’ 
such vermin. But, sure, Bristead’s Branch is a name, 
Miss Beth, an’ a nice-soundin’ echo it has to it. ’Deed 
I don’t wonder you love this spot. Miss Beth I What 
a lovely look it has ! It’s an awful pity the grist mill 
has no more use, so ’tis ! There’s few things sweeter 
than the sound of the water splashin’ through a race, 
an’ turnin’ the grindin’, an’ the fresh meal minglin’ wid 
the smell of wood an’ water ! I’d like nothin’ better 
than to be set up in a place like this as miller. But 
the settin’ up in the business would be all the business 
there’d be to it. That day ended wid the big rollin’ 
mills that sends out barrels where the miller would 
send a pound, barely. Sure, Miss Beth, the old mill is 
flne an’ strong yet. If ever you wanted to turn it into 
a santitorium, or whativer they call ’um, it would need 
no more than the inside fixin’ ; I’ll bet the old timbers 
are better than the showy new painted things they’re 
buildin’.” 

“ Tim,” said Beth earnestly, her face kindling with a 
vague idea of grand proportions, “ maybe, some day, I 
could ! I’d like so much, so very much, to do some- 
thing beautiful in the world ! And that is true about 
the timbers. They are all hand- hewn and just as strong 
as iron, they say. There was an Israel Bristead who 
gave the timber and had it cut and this mill built for 
his enemy.” 

“ For ? Did you say his enemy ^ Miss Beth ? ” 

repeated Tim, puzzled. 

Beth nodded. “ His enemy,” she affirmed. “ It’s 


50 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


a beautiful story. Israel Bristead was my great-great- 
grandfather; I’m so glad I came down from him 
straight. There was a man who did him dreadful 
harm.f Cheated and robbed him and made him terribly 
unhappy in some other way ; I don’t know how. Then, 
after a while, he was crippled and lost all he had dis- 
honestly gained. And Israel Bristead not only forgave 
the man, but built this mill for him and gave him a 
chance to make a living when he was too lame to work 
his farm. The mill was still my great-great-grand- 
father’s, but that man had the use of it. Wasn’t that 
fine ! I’m so glad the mill is here and that happened 
in my family. I feel as though it must sort of draw 
blessings on us, something like the way lightning rods 
draw lightning.” 

Tim laughed, but he looked at Beth very sympathet- 
ically. “ Indeed, Miss Beth, I’ve no manner of doubt 
it does draw blessin’s on the place,” he said. “ It would 
do that same, if it merely stood here, remindin’ of pity 
an’ forgiv’ness. I wonder does the saintly old Israel 
Bristead not put love an’ sweetness into his thrice over 
granddaughter’s head. Miss Beth dear ? We Irish are 
taught there’s the nearest kind of closeness betune the 
livin’ an’ the saints. Maybe a lovin’ little lady like 
you is part of the Bristead blessin’, handed down.” 

“ How nice you are, Tim ! ” cried Beth flushing. 
“ I’ll tell you : when I think of Israel Bristead I feel I 
have to try not to disgrace him.” 

Again Tim laughed, looking down on Beth with a 
warm light in his eyes, as he said : “ There’s them in 


THE UNBELIEVABLE DECISION 


51 


the other world greater than Israel Bristead that’s 
lovin’ an’ blessin’ you, Miss Beth,” he said. “ There’s 
no call for old Tim to be tellin’ you that. There’s no 
disgrace to a relation, livin’ or dead, in havin’ a sweet 
child belongin’ to him.” 

Beth guided Tim back to the house by another lane, 
a shorter cut, for the boy who was to look after Trump 
was coming to be instructed by Tim in the fine points 
of the art of making a tiny pony comfortable. 

Many important things in this world grow out of 
trifles, humble beginnings, slowly unfolded. The sug- 
gestion made by her uncle’s groom took root in Beth’s 
mind and bore fruit later on. 

Tim went away in the morning laden with messages 
which must have been nearly as heavy as the pony he 
had come with, so many were they, though Beth was 
writing her cousins often. Aunt Rebecca was also 
writing to Aunt Alida, but she did not volunteer any 
information as to the progress of the plan for the 
Cortlandts to come to Chilton and Beth dared not ask 
for it. She knew that it could not have been aban- 
doned, or the correspondence would have ceased. 
Beth had to content herself with frantic imploring of 
Natalie and Alys to “ write and tell her the minute 
they knew.” 

At last Aunt Rebecca spoke ; she had waited to be 
perfectly sure of what she had to say, which was exactly 
like Aunt Rebecca. “Beth,” she began after break- 
fast, Miss Tappan having gone on three days before 
to fulfil her next engagement, “ just hand me Mr. 


52 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Kanney’s pass-book; he’s made a mistake in the 
quantity of the last Indian meal he sent me.” She 
scanned closely the last used page of the grocer’s book 
which Beth gave her. ‘‘ I knew I ordered three 
pounds ; he sent five ! ” she cried triumphantly. 
“Beth, Mrs. Walker wouldn’t take the Cortlandt 
children to board.” 

“ Wouldn’t she, AuntKebecca ? ” echoed Beth, ready 
to be sorry, yet sensing something coming for which 
she should not be sorry. 

“ No,” Aunt Eebecca continued. “ She says she 
thinks she has had enough afflictions in her life not to 
take young people, young people accustomed to luxury 
at that, into her home. She says she has enough to live 
on, so does not need the money, and no one to leave it 
to except Foreign Missions, to which she has willed it. 
She thinks it is well enough to leave one’s money to mis- 
sions, but not necessary to worry to get more to leave 
them. She added that she thought after all her hard 
times she was entitled to sit down by the waters of 
Babylon and weep in peace. Mrs. Walker is amusing, 
though you were quite right in thinking her dreary. 
I was relieved that she did not want the Cortlandts ; 
they are too young to sit in such a damp spot as the 
banks of the Babylonish water must be ! ” 

Beth laughed merrily, enjoying Aunt Kebecca’s dry 
humor, yet marveling. Beth had been brought up 
without much of the atmosphere which children love. 
It was curious to find Aunt Eebecca realizing that 
other children wanted to be where they could have 


THE UNBELIEVABLE DECISION 


63 


good times ! It came into Beth’s mind that perhaps 
Aunt Kebecca was not well, she seemed to be mellow- 
ing so fast. 

“ I decided, Beth, to let your cousins come here, if 
they cared to.” Aunt Rebecca made this announcement 
and waited, looking over the top of her glasses to see 
its effect. 

She saw Beth’s fair face crimson, precisely as she 
had expected it to, her blue eyes dilate and darken, her 
lips quiver and her dimple come before she laughed, 
as these things always preluded Beth’s expression of 

joy- 

“Oh, Aunt Rebecca!” was all she said, but she 
fluttered out of her chair and forced herself back to it, 
about to fly at her aunt as she had flown at her Uncle 
Jim and Aunt Alida when they had delighted her, but 
remembered that this was Aunt Rebecca, who disliked 
demonstration. 

“ Did you tell them ? What did they say ? ” Beth 
asked, short-breathed, eager. 

“ Of course I wrote them, wrote your uncle and 
aunt. Their reply came last night, but I didn’t say 
anything about it. You never did sleep well if you 
got stirred up at bedtime. They spoke as if they were 
truly grateful to me for allowing their three children 
to conie here. They said they realized it was a great 
favor, but that they would do all in their power to 
prevent its being also a great burden. It seems that 
they are anxious to send their young people here. I 
don’t know whether it is with an idea of letting them. 


54 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


also, go into a strange country while their parents are 
abroad, or to give them an object lesson in what it is 
like not to have much money, or to give them a taste 
for the New England stories of village life which are 
in so many magazines — though not as many as there 
used to be — or what the reason is, but evidently they 
are delighted that they may come.” Aunt Kebecca 
looked at Beth as she ended her long answer and 
smiled a little to see how hard it had been for the 
child to wait for the conclusion. 

“ Oh, Aunt Kebecca ! ” Beth then cried again. “ Do 
you mean — you must mean that Natalie, Alys and Dirk 
are coming ! ” 

“ What else could I mean, child ? ” demanded her 
Aunt Kebecca. ‘‘I suppose they will be here in 
about two weeks, or three. Mrs. Cortlandt wrote that 
they meant to sail on May 16th.” 

Beth got up slowly, in a solemn rapture ; though her 
heart beat so fast that she panted and her eyes were 
black and dancing, she spoke gravely, like one who 
saw a vision. 

“ Aunt Kebecca, there wouldn’t be the least bit of 
use in my trying to tell you how this makes me feel,” 
she said with that funny effect of quaint solemnity that 
made her Uncle Jim call her “ a Survival and an 
Anomaly,” and which never failed to send him off into 
chuckles of high delight. “ I don’t know myself how 
it makes me feel. I have tried to imagine that they 
would come, but I never, never could. It makes me 
feel as though Santa Claus might be true, and fairies. 


THE UNBELIEVABLE DECISION 


55 


and all those things you believe when you are little, 
because they are not more wonderful than this. It is 
just as wonderful, in its way, to have Natalie, Alys and 
Dirk in this house, this very same old Bristead house 
of ours, as it was for me to be in their wonderland in 
New York. It is just — ^just unbelievable that you de- 
cided to let them come, here, into this house, you 
know ! It is something like ‘ Mine eyes have seen the 

glory of the coming ’ Mercy ! That wouldn’t 

have been respectful! I’m glad I stopped in time! 
But it is just as if ‘ glory shone around,’ like the hymn. 
Aunt Kebecca, what rooms will they have ? ” 

“ The girls must use the east room together, and the 
boy can have either the south room under the eaves, 
or the little room in the ell. The south room is cooler 
at night. I’m not going to put them into the spare 
bedroom ; suppose anybody was sick ? ” Aunt Eebecca 
spoke decidedly. 

“ The east room has that wall paper with the blue 
stripe and the pink poppies between,” murmured Beth 
doubtfully. She had before her eyes the picture of 
her own room in New York, like a great sapphire, with 
its blue velvet hangings and the deep-napped blue 
velvet carpet which felt, Beth thought, “ as if you were 
walking right in the blue sky,” and of Natalie and 
Alys’ rooms at home and their bath room, with its 
marble pool and moonlike light and the vines reflected 
in the still water, so perfectly reproduced on the latticed 
wall that one had to touch the drooping roses to be 
convinced that they were not growing there. “ But I 


66 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


don’t believe that the bluets tied with a gilt ribbon in 
the spare room are any prettier than the poppies,” 
added Beth. 

“ Now, Elizabeth, you know the house is not going 
to be repapered, nor refurnished for these children ! ” 
Aunt Kebecca spoke with a sort of amused annoyance. 
“ I’ve got to find some one to help Ella with the work 
and that is quite enough in the way of change. You 
may set the furniture all around in different positions 
in the east bedroom, if you like. I’ve noticed that 
generally makes a hostess feel better when company 
is coming, though the room may look worse.” 

Beth threw off her momentary depression, born of 
pink poppies, bunched at intervals between blue stripes, 
and laughed. 

“ I shall feel perfectly crazy-glad, no matter where 
the furniture stands, Aunt Kebecca, and I’m pretty 
sure there is something about this house the girls will 
like,” she said. “ I must go tell Janie and the other 
girls that they are coming. I suppose the one to worry 
over — if we were going to worry — would be Dirk. I 
don’t know what in the world he’ll do here in the 
summer with only us — and Alys doesn’t like much to 
have him hang around. Natalie doesn’t mind, but she 
couldn’t entertain Dirk ; she’s too old.” 

“ Then perhaps Dirk will be my friend,” suggested 
Aunt Rebecca. “ I have noticed that at Natalie’s age 
a girl is too old to find pleasure in a small boy’s com- 
panionship, but at four times her age they are welcome 
associates. Besides, I like boys ; I had brothers and I 


THE UNBELIEVABLE DECISION 


57 


still miss their noise in this house, gone nearly half a 
century. Isn’t Dirk your age ? ” 

“ Yes, he is,” Beth admitted, “ but boys are so young 
beside girls ! And I grew up with you. Aunt Kebecca, 
and that makes a lot of difference.” 

“ Yes, they all said I was making you a little old 
woman, but I gave you plenty of playtime and I did 
not ask you to read the poetry and history you chose,” 
said Aunt Kebecca regarding Beth anxiously. “ You 
are very much a child on one side.” 

“ Oh, my, yes ! ” cried Beth. “ You never made me 
old ! I’m more a little girl than any of the rest, except 
Janie. Don’t you think. Aunt Kebecca, when you read 
grown-up books it makes you sound old, talking about 
them, but it keeps you so busy thinking about them 
you don’t have as much time to grow up yourself as 
girls do who don’t read much, but do things more ? ” 

“ I certainly do, Beth. The love of reading fills the 
mind with fine thoughts and, by crowding out harmful 
things, preserves innocence. To be innocent is to be 
young, at any age ! Now do run along, if you want 
to tell Janie it is settled that the Cortlandts are coming. 
I’ve no more time to spend discussing theories with you. 
And, Beth, just ask Mrs. Little if she knows what Mal- 
vina Mellin is going to do this summer, whether she 
thinks she might come here to help Ella ? I’m sure I 
can’t think of another person I’d want ! ” Aunt Ke- 
becca’s deep line downward over her nose deepened 
and drew together as she spoke. 

“Wouldn’t Malvina be good, if only she would 


68 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


come ? ” cried Beth. “ And wouldn’t she puzzle the 
girls at first ? Though Natalie would soon understand 
her. I’ll ask Mrs. Little, Aunt Eebecca. And if Mal- 
vina is at home I could ride over and see her for you 
after dinner.” 

Mrs. Little held out hope of the capture of Malvina 
Mellin, so Beth came running home, leaving Janie 
hardly less excited than herself over the unbelievable 
decision of Aunt Kebecca’s to receive the Cortlandt 
young folk into the old Bristead house. 

“ Shall I ride over to ask Malvina, Aunt Eebecca ? ” 
Beth suggested, when she had repeated Mrs. Little’s 
encouraging report of Malvina’s movements. 

“ I’d rather see her,” said Aunt Rebecca. “ Perhaps 
I’ll get a horse and go myself.” 

“ Aunt Rebecca, there’s my new cart ! ” cried Beth. 
“ Trump is strong enough to take us both over there. 
You wouldn’t have to scrooge up so very much. Of 
course you’d have to draw your knees up a little higher 
than you’d choose, but it isn’t bad. And I’d perfectly 
love to drive you over ! ” 

Aunt Rebecca looked down into Beth’s flushed and 
eager face. She was tall and she foresaw herself 
“ scrooging up ” considerably in Beth’s little cart, but 
it was worth cramping one’s knees not to see that dear 
little face cloud under a refusal. “Yery well,” she 
said. “ I forgot that we had an equipage and a driver 
here.” 

Beth ran off with a whoop of joy to make sure that 
Trump was early fed and the wheels were still on the 


THE UNBELIEVABLE DECISION 


69 


cart, apparently, for, though she looked it over care- 
fully, with a knowing air, she was not competent to 
distinguish minor defects. She had learned to feed 
Trump and to harness him. Tim had told her that any 
one who drove alone should be competent to harness, 
so she had gladly learned the accomplishment. 

Immediately after the dinner, which Aunt Rebecca 
preferred at noon, after the manner of her forebears, 
she and Beth bestowed themselves in the pony cart 
and Trump started off willingly, minding their weight 
not at all. Cricket came twisting himself in imploring 
half circles, begging to be allowed to follow, and 
barked and whined in high tenor on being smiled upon 
and bidden : “ Come ! ” 

“ Don’t you think we look nice ? ” asked Beth, in 
supreme content, holding her reins and whip as know- 
ingly as possible and watching Trump’s ears as they 
commented on what they passed. 

“ I have no way of knowing precisely how I look, 
Beth ; I know you and the cart are harmonious. But I 
suspect that I look older and larger than I should, and 
I know I feel like a peanut.” Aunt Rebecca drew up 
her knees a little more as she spoke and shook her 
head by way of greeting to an acquaintance on the 
sidewalk. 

Beth laughed at this unexpected reply. “You’ll 
grow used to it. Aunt Rebecca,” she said. 

“ I earnestly hope not, Beth ! ” said Aunt Rebecca, 
with a twist of her lips. “ I don’t want to grow used 
to it ; I’d rather shrink used to it, if I knew how.” 


60 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


Once more Beth’s laugh rang out. Aunt Bebecca 
was funny in her unexpected way. 

Malvina Mellin lived with a distant relative when 
she was not at work ; distant in the other sense, also, 
for she lived in East Chilton, at a considerable distance 
from the principal Chilton. Malvina’s father had been 
a self-commissioned preacher and his daughter was a 
character, equal to any emergency, unoppressed by her 
deficiencies, educational, social or financial, feeling com- 
petent to meet anything that might arise and anybody 
who had ever risen to the highest earthly honors. She 
came out to the gate to meet Miss Bristead and Beth. 
When Aunt Eebecca said that she would rather not 
get out of the cart, but would talk there, Malvina 
leaned heavily on the gate, looked over Beth’s lilliputian 
turn-out critically, and said : 

‘‘Well, you do look ’s if ’twould take a can opener 
to get you out and ’twas doubtful if you could get 
back, if you was out. Nice little horse, Bessie, but I’d 
hate to move a whole household West, with him 
hitched to a prairie wagon, same’s they used to move 
when ’they was settlin’ the West.” 

“ Malvina,” began Aunt Eebecca, “ I’m going to have 
Beth’s cousins, on her mother’s side, staying most of 
the summer with us. There are two young girls, a 
little older than Beth and a boy her age. If you 
haven’t made other arrangements I wish you’d come to 
help Ella this summer. Can you ? ” 

“ They ain’t the cousins Bessie — Beth, you call her, 
’seems— visited in Noo York last winter, is it?” asked 


THE UNBELIEVABLE DECISION 61 

Malvina with evident interest. “ The awful rich 
ones ? ” 

“ The very same ; Mr. James Cortlandt’s children. 
Their father and mother are going abroad and the 
children are coming to us. Beth thinks they will not 
be troublesome, though they are used to luxury. I 
hope you’ll see your way to come, Malvina,” said Aunt 
Kebecca. 

“ I wasn’t thinking about the trouble,” said Malvina, 
wiping her dusky face with her apron. “ Gettin’ warm, 
don’t you think so ? Land, I feel the heat so I just 
dread summer! I’d kinder like to see millionaires’ 
children an’ watch their ways. As to trouble, I know 
just how things ought to be done ’s well’s any one. 
We’d do our own come-down-from-the-Pilgrim-fathers- 
Noo-England way, an’ I guess they no need to think 
Noo York’s got better ways than those ! I’d admire 
to see those children close to every day. I’ll come. 
Same terms as I always have. They say Beth reported 
when she came back — or when she was writin’ last 
winter — that one of those girls was awful pretty, an’ 
that they all dress so nice ? ” 

“ They are both pretty, but Natalie, the older one, is 
a perfect beauty,” said Beth, as Malvina looked at her. 
“ And their clothes are — fairy clothes ! ” 

“Well, I’d admire to see ’em. Noo York styles 
don’t come my way much. I’ve got a mohair 
to make up; maybe I could get ideas, even if they 
are youngsters’ clothes. I’ll come. When ? ” said 
Malvina. 


62 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ Come next Wednesday,” said Aunt Kebecca, greatly 
pleased with her success. 

Beth had to stoop to tie her shoe to get her face 
straight as she looked at Malvina’s thick form and 
dusky skin and remembered Natalie’s and Alys’ ex- 
quisite daintiness of dress and body. 


CHAPTEE IV 


“ THE COETLANDTS AEE COMING I ” 

S EEING that Beth’s excitement was seething, Aunt 
Kebecca gave her free rein in rearranging the 
rooms which were to be used by the Cortlandt cousins 
and making any preparations for their coming which 
seemed good to her — always with the understanding 
that she was to use materials on hand. 

Beth asked her friends to come and look over the 
ground and help her by their critical suggestions. So 
Janie, Euth, Edith, May, Nell and Daisy all came to 
make improvements — which must have been hard for 
Aunt Eebecca, who made no sign, but left the reformers 
to work their will on her orderly chambers. 

“ We’ve got to fix up two rooms for Dirk, unless we 
decide for him which he is to have,” said Beth. “ Aunt 
Eebecca says he may have the south one, under the 
eaves, or that cute ell room. It’s cute, but he’ll roast 
in it.” 

“ Well, my goodness ! ” cried decided Edith. “Who 
wouldn’t rather have some air than cuteness in sum- 
mer ? Do you suppose a boy cares, anyway ? I mean 
for cuteness ? Mother had book shelves built in Hal’s 
room and you should see them ! Books all higgledy- 
piggledy to make room for stuff, goodness knows what 
63 


64 BETH’S OLD HOME 

it all is ! You’d better fix up the south room and not 
worry.” 

“I suppose that’s so,” said Beth. “Well, come up 
and see the girls’ room. I can’t be sure which way 
the bed looks best.” 

The girls trooped up-stairs. Beth threw open the 
east room door and they crowded together in the door- 
way to get a view of it as a whole. 

“ Isn’t it nice ! ” cried Janie sincerely. “ I wouldn’t 
do one thing to it ; you can’t make it any prettier.” 

There was an ingrain carpet on the floor, a cheerful 
mixture of tans and reds. A mat of the same carpeting 
before the wash-stand declared itself a separate thing 
by lying with the reverse side out, so that it harmonized 
with the carpet, yet did not match it. The walls were 
covered with paper of a light ground color, with blue 
vertical stripes, fencing in bunches of pinkish poppies, 
cheerfully distributed at regular intervals between 
base-board and ceiling. The furniture was maple. On 
the walls hung a few pictures, an old steel engraving 
of Washington Irving’s home, “ Sunny side ” ; three 
colored lithographs and landscapes, and a photograph 
of Millais’ “ Huguenot Lovers,” with another of Guido 
Beni’s “Aurora.” 

“ I’m glad this light furniture is in here,” said Beth, 
looking dissatisfiedly around. “ Aunt Bebecca has the 
black walnut set in the regular guest room, because it 
is better, but this is more cheerful. Do you think the 
room really looks decent ? Let’s try the bed over there; 
it will bring everything different. I wish I dared take 


‘‘THE CORTLANDTS ARE COMING 


65 


up the carpet and paint the floor and put down braided 
mats ! But I don’t.” 

“ Why, Beth Bristead, this carpet’s just as good as 
new ! ” “ Why, Beth ! This good carpet ! ” Ruth and 

Janie protested together. 

Beth did not try to explain. She felt, though she 
could not precisely express her feeling, that the removal 
of the tasteless carpet and the substitution of braided 
rugs would, with the maple furniture, give the room 
character, make it harmonious and tasteful, while as it 
was ! She looked at it with strong disapproval. 

“ Well, if we’re going to change the furniture ’round, 
let’s begin,” said Edith. “ We’ve got to get the bureau 
out of the way first, into the middle of the room, then 
steer around it. I love to move furniture ! ” 

The girls took hold with a will — also with a willing- 
ness that made the avoidance of collisions difficult. 
There were so many of them, and they pushed so 
hard, and with such quick movements, that Beth was 
nervously busy acting as a sort of bumper on corners ; 
Aunt Rebecca would have been annoyed by scratches. 
When everything was rearranged Beth and her lieuten- 
ants once more got together in the doorway and sur- 
veyed the effect. 

“ Looks heaps worse ! ” said Edith, voicing the senti- 
ments which the silence of the others conveyed. 
“ Let’s hustle it all back the way it was.” 

“ Oh, mercy ! ” sighed Janie. “ If we’ve got to fuss 
this way all summer for those Cortlandt girls, we’ll 
have fun, won’t we ? And now they’re not even here ! ” 


66 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“It isn’t their fault,” Beth reminded her. “It’s 
mine. If you could see what they did for me in New 
York, you’d see why I’d like things as nice here as 
they can be. It’s different enough, anyway.” 

“ ’Course we see, Bethie ! ” cried Kuth, replying to 
a quaver in Beth’s voice more than to her words. “ But 
if they want Chilton, there’s no use fussing ; Chilton’s 
the thing they want and have to have.” 

“Well, are we to put the furniture back, Beth?” 
asked Janie. 

“ I suppose we must,” sighed Beth. “ It was better 
before.” 

Once more the little girls attacked the furniture, but 
this time Beth was not alarmed for its safety by the 
speed of their movements; replacing it was not in- 
spiriting. 

“ If there’s anything I despise it’s sewing and then 
ripping,” observed Edith. 

“ Makes you ripping ? ” suggested Beth, but not with 
enjoyment of her own joke. 

“ I always thought that king of France in Mother 
Goose, who marched his men up and down hill, for no 
reason, was a perfect idiot. And this is just like it,” 
grumbled Janie, whose dread of Beth’s cousins’ divid- 
ing her time and affections and robbing her of her most 
intimate friend had a great deal to do with her weari- 
ness and vexation of spirit. 

“ Maybe the French army had cramps in its legs,” 
giggled Edith. “ Anyhow, we only did this to try how 
it looked and to help Beth. Putting back is just the 


“THE COETLANDTS AEE COMING!'' 


67 


same as changing 'round, if you look at it right. I’m 
sorry I spoke. I don't really mind a bit.” 

They heard a heavy step on the stairs and in a mo- 
ment Malvina Mellin arose by slow degrees, mounting 
with shortened breath, carrying a canvas telescope bag. 

“ Oh, Malvina, I forgot you were coming to-day ! ” 
cried Beth, springing to lift the bag up the last two 
steps. 

“ You’re a nice child, Bessie,” Malvina approved her. 

I ain’t cornin’ to-day ; I’m here. This is Wednesday. 
Ella informs me your cousins will be here Friday. 
We’re goin’ to sweep the whole house to-morrer. What 
you doin’ ? Tryin’ how things’d look if they looked 
different ? Puttin’ back, I see. It’s been my experience 
that the way furniture lights first is the way it wants 
to set. I don’t believe in this forever-tearin’-up busi- 
ness. Why don’t you let the girls fix to suit them- 
selves ? Make ’em feel ’t home. I was helpin’ Mis’ 
Kanney last summer, you may rec’lect. She put a cot 
in a room, an’ spread a striped Badgad cover over it. 
Looked real nice. This room’d look better with a sofy 
in it, an’ girls like loppin’ places. I’ll bet your aunt’s 
got plenty things to cover one, an’ enough cots, in the 
attic. You no need to have a Badgad cover, ’nless one 
happens to be handy.” 

“ That’s a good idea, Malvina ! ” cried Beth. “ Aunt 
Kebecca said I could do what I wanted to. I know 
where there’s a nice old heavy brocade curtain, really 
nice. There isn’t a Bagdad cover in the house, but the 
curtain would be fine. Let’s get a cot and try it over 


68 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


in that corner, between the windows ; we’ll put the 

table on the other side No, we won’t! We’ll 

set the table across the foot of the bed and it can just 
nicely be pulled up to the couch, if anybody wants to lie 
there and have books handy.” 

With revived interest the girls stampeded the attic 
and soon had carried out Malvina’s suggestion. It gave 
the room a much more habitable look. 

‘‘ There are lots of pillows up-stairs. I’ll cover some 
to-morrow,” said Beth. “We can’t do any more. I’d 
better take the pictures down.” 

“ And leave the room without any ? ” cried Daisy, 
shocked. “ The wall paper’d be a sight, bright places 
wherever there’d been a picture. And they make the 
room so cheerful ! I thought your cousins’d be used to 
pictures ; didn’t you say your uncle had some ? ” 

Beth gave her a comical look, then laughed. “ There 
are pictures in the rooms, not so many, though. Uncle 
Jim keeps his pictures in a gallery,” she said. 

“ Gallery ? Around the room, like in the public hall 
here ? ” asked May. “ How funny to pen your pictures 
up in one place, like chickens or cows ! ” 

“ It is a long, high room, lighted from the top, built 
just for pictures,” Beth explained. “ They are all fine 
pictures ; Uncle Jim is a collector. Oh, I suppose I 
may as well let these pictures stay ! What’s the use ? ” 
she added with sharp realization of contrasts. 

The next day was a confused one in the old house 
and a busy one for Beth, as well as for her elders. 
Ella Lowndes and Malvina swept with system and 


“THE COETLANDTS AEE COMING ! 


69 


energy, beginning at the top of the house and working 
down through to the ground floor, till, as Ella said, 
“ they reached the yard and it was perfectly clean up to 
there.” Beth covered pillows for the improvised couch, 
stitching them up on Aunt Eebecca’s old sewing- 
machine with the uncertain temper. But to-day it 
stitched dutifully, neither puckering seams, nor skipping 
stitches. 

The pillows covered — and it was a task for Beth’s 
unaccustomed lingers — she took her hat, called Cricket 
and went to get Janie to look for flowers for the living- 
room, the dining-room and her cousins’ rooms, if they 
could be fortunate to this extent. 

It did not take long to get to the abiding places of 
the wild flowers ; the woods were delightfully close to 
the outskirts of Chilton, or, rather, the woods were the 
outskirts of Chilton. 

“ And we forgot that the azalea was out ; how could 
we ! ” cried Beth, stopping in a rapture as the foaming 
pink branches caught her eye. “ Oh, they’ll like here, 
they must ! I don’t believe they ever had real coun- 
try, in a real country way, in all their lives.” And 
Janie knew that she meant the Cortlandts, not the wild 
azalea. 

They gathered an armful apiece of this delicate, yet 
brilliant glory of May ; they found a sunny, damp spot 
covered with great violets, and another sandy bit of 
soil with the pansy-like, two-colored bird-foot violets 
rising fresh and lovely from their lacy leaves, which 
seem to belie the name of violet. 


70 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Cricket dashed off after what he considered a clue, 
not to any special thing, apparently ; merely a Clue — 
with a capital C. He bounced along “in scallops,” 
Beth truly said, springing up and pouncing down first 
on his broad fore paws, making progress in crescents, 
his ears flying out, his round little body suggesting a 
plush Teddy bear, repeatedly thrown by some one to 
amuse an invisible baby. In vain Beth called him 
back. Having set out on his Clue Cricket continued on 
it, ignoring Beth, though with kindly regard for her 
jumping along with him. 

“ As the Bible says : ‘ If the mountain won’t come to 
Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain,’ ” ob- 
served Janie, evidently enjoying her accuracy of quota- 
tion. 

Beth gave a little shriek of laughter. “ Oh, Janie, I 
wonder where the Bible says that ! There’s nothing in 
the Bible about Mahomet. He didn’t live very long 
ago, not more than a little over a thousand years, I 
think. I’m not sure when, but it was a good while after 
the early Christians’ time.” 

“Isn’t that in the Bible? It sounds like a Bible 
name to me,” said Janie undisturbed. “ Anyway, I 
mean we’d better go after Cricket, for he’s going right 
on, scallop-jumping to the Pacific, I guess.” 

“ I think so, too ; come ! ” agreed Beth. 

They followed the little dog and he led them to a 
beautiful high place along a bank, where he stopped 
and whined and barked up a tree. 

“ He must have gone after a squirrel. Oh, Puppity, 


THE COETLANDTS AEE COMING ! ’V 71 

a cricket can’t catch a squirrel ! But, Janie, do you 
see what he has shown us ? ” cried Beth. 

There along a fallen log bloomed the moccasin 
flower, eleven perfect blossoms of the orchid, swinging 
themselves triumphantly at having come together where 
no human eye could see their veined wallets of fairy 
treasure. But Cricket had betrayed them ! Further- 
more, just beyond, where an overgrown woods road 
ran down the farther slope, there was a mist of 
purplish, pinkish beauty, grass high — the fringed 
poly gala ! 

“ Oh, it seems a shame to gather these moccasins, 
when they are so nice and private, practicing their 
dance steps ! ” said Beth. “ But they wouldn’t be here 
long anyway, and they ought to be willing to help 
welcome Natalie and Alys! I’m going to gather 
polygala, too. What a lot of flowers we’ll have ! 
And such lovely ones, all pink, except the violets. 
Pink is such a spring color, too ! It’s the youngest of 
all the colors, don’t you think, J anie ? My ! When I 
find a lot of wild flowers I feel as though God opened 
a drawer full of gold and said ; ‘ These are my treas- 
ures ; take all you want, little Beth.’ ” 

“ Why, Beth ! ” cried Janie, a little overwhelmed by 
Beth’s rapture, for Beth was rapidly yet carefully 
breaking the moccasin fiowers on long stems and kiss- 
ing each satin globular bloom as she laid it on the 
grass, that it might not fade in the warmth of her hand 
while she busied herself with the longer task of pluck- 
ing polygala. When the fiower gathering was accom- 


72 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


plished Beth and Janie started homeward, each with 
azalea swaying in her arms, dark pink, bright pink, 
almost white, and each carrying her hat filled with 
polygala and violets, part of the moccasin flowers 
surmounting the straw rim. 

By this time Cricket’s squirrel had given up chatter- 
ing at him and gone. The little dog had lain down 
with one of his bowed forelegs under him, the other 
supporting his elongated nose while he took cat naps, 
opening his eyes at intervals and wrinkling his brow as 
he watched Beth, over the top of his head, to make 
sure of her first homeward intention. 

“ Come on, you soft pen- wiper- velvet-pup ; we’re go- 
ing, Crick ! ” said Beth and Cricket, stretching, arose, 
having spent his stock of haste in coming. 

Janie went home with Beth and helped her put the 
flowers in water and set them in the cellar to keep cool 
and dark that they might be fresh in the morning. 
The Cortlandt cousins were to arrive at noon ; they 
were staying in Boston that night and were to continue 
their journey in the morning. 

Janie bade Beth good-bye and took her departure 
soberly. She had a despondent sense of its being a 
real good-bye to her own Beth. This would be the 
last day with Beth dependent upon her, a solitary Beth 
in the old Bristead house. When Natalie and Alys 
had come Janie would not be necessary, as she always 
had been, probably no longer first in Beth’s love. 
Another winter Janie was sure that Beth would return 
to New York and these cousins. Poor little Janie was 


‘‘THE COETLANDTS AEE COMING!’’ 


73 


to be pitied and not in the least blamed that she went 
away sadly, feeling as though the door to something 
most precious and happy had been closed behind her. 

Beth was not conscious of a threat to their friendship. 
She saw no cloud on her summer’s horizon, unless it 
was the doubt that the Cortlandts would be happy in 
the old house ; since she had gathered the wild flowers 
and found the woods so beautiful that doubt had faded 
to a pin point. 

The next morning Beth was up by half-past four 
looking out of the window at the weather, inhaling air 
of such quality that the character of the day was as- 
sured. It promised to be warm, but nobody minds 
warmth in May. The promise of summer heat is 
always welcome; it is the fulfilment of that spring 
promise which inconsistent mortals find burdensome. 

Beth slipped on a gingham frock and hurried down 
to make herself generally useful. 

“ Please let me make the cake, Ella. You know I 
can make it, and my cousins never had any of my 
cake ; you can’t make cake in New York. It is just 
as much as ever that you can see the kitchen with a 
telescope. It seems farther off from the family than 
the Capitol at Washington. I’d like to make the cake, 
please, Ella, and just say I made it when I pass it to 
Natalie — I’m sure Dirk would make fun of me, but be 
pleased, too,” Beth begged. 

“You may make the cake for all me, Beth, I’m 
sure,” Ella said kindly. “ I know how you feel about 
a little harmless showin’ off of that kind to girls who 


74 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


more’n likely don’t know how to sift flour. Suppose 
you make it now, and get it out of the way ? I’ve 
got some rolls and buns set and it does take so many 
risin’s for buns ! ” 

So Beth carefully washed her hands over again, to 
make sure that they were all that cake-making hands 
should be, and went to work. Her plump little body 
swayed with the energy of her creaming the butter and 
sugar, and her sweet round face lost its soft pink-and- 
whiteness, turning very red as she worked, while her 
lips screwed into queer shapes from the concentrated 
earnestness of her measurements. Beth not only made, 
but baked her cake herself. It was a harrowing thing 
to wait to see if it rose properly, then if it were going 
to fall. But the cake arose and remained at the 
summit of its ambitions and came out of the oven that 
even golden-brown, with a fissure of egg-tinted white 
over its summit, that prophesies all that one can de- 
mand from a cake. 

‘‘ I certainly am hungry for breakfast,” sighed Beth, 
sucking her finger after her task was done. She sucked 
it, not from hunger, but because she had burned it in 
taking her cake out of the pan. 

Beth dusted the living-room after breakfast, arranged 
her flowers and set them in their places, chosen with 
difficulty after many experiments, and then went to 
her own little room to prepare to go to the station. 

“ To meet Hatalie, Alys and Dirk ! ” she thought, 
with exclamation marks in her thought. “I can’t 
realize it ! ” 


<< THE COETLANDTS ARE COMING ! 75 


It took considerable time to decide what to put on. 
Although she had spent the winter with her cousins, al- 
though she knew that they were to be with her all sum- 
mer in the greater freedom of Chilton life, still it 
seemed to matter greatly what she had on when she met 
them at the station. Aunt Rebecca was not the 
slightest help. 

‘‘ Anything will do as long as it’s suitable to morning 
and clean,” she said when Beth consulted her. “ It 
doesn’t matter in the least what you wear in the 
morning down the street you’ve walked on all 
your life. The only thing that matters is that 
you should not think too much about your clothes. I 
hope these girls have not that sort of influence on you, 
Beth.” 

Which sounded more like the Aunt Rebecca of old 
times than her recent gentleness had sounded, but threw 
no light on Beth’s problem. 

Finally Beth selected a blue linen which Natalie had 
particularly liked when her mother had bought Beth’s 
summer outfit in New York. It was a soft, rather light 
blue, with touches of white handwork for its trimming. 
Beth liked it herself and, having made a satisfactory 
choice, sensibly thought no more about her looks. 
Beth was not the sort of girl who would ever need 
Aunt Rebecca’s warning against inordinate interest in 
dress. She set her soft panama hat, with the simple 
band of black velvet around it, on her fair hair and 
went slowly down-stairs. She knew that she must 
move as slowly as possible all the way to the station, or 


76 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


her wait there would be unbearable. But there was no 
use in trying to postpone starting ! 

“ To think that it is only a little while since Janie 
and I were meeting Trump and nearly bursting with 
joy, and now, now^ this minute, I am on my way to 
meet Natalie, Alys and Dirk! It’s wonderful what 
things can happen,” Beth thought. 

Something told her to stop to see Janie. Though 
Beth had not realized Janie’s dread of taking second 
place, that moment it came over her that Janie was not 
with her, as she had been meeting Trump, and that, 
possibly, Janie might feel “ out of it.” 

“ Come along to the station, Janie ! ” Beth called, 
seeing Janie at the window. “ Then you’ll know them 
from the first minute they’re here.” 

Janie shook her head hard. “ Can’t ! Well, then, 
don’t want to, if you’re not going to take the can’t. I 
wouldn’t want to be there when they come,” Janie 
called back. 

“ It is a hard place to get acquainted in,” Beth ad- 
mitted. “ Then will you be over as soon as you’re 
through dinner ? They know you now, and you know 
them. I want you to come the minute-instant you’re 
through dinner ! Do you hear, Janie Little ? ” 

“All right,” Janie said and smiled back at Beth 
more cheerfully. “ You look just dear in that dress, 
Bethums. I never saw it.” 

“ Blue linen,” said Beth. “ I wish I could stay, 
Janie, because I know I’ll have an awful wait at the 
station. But I couldn’t stand it not to go on.” 


'‘THE COETLANDTS AEE COMING!’^ 


77 


They waved at each other as long as Beth, walking back- 
ward to perform her part of the ceremony, was in sight. 

The long, low Chilton station held a number of peo- 
ple when Beth got there. There was a train to Boston 
twenty-four minutes before the train from Boston was 
due, and these people were waiting for it. Beth heard 
some one say : “ That’s the little Bristead girl. Her 
millionaire cousins are coming from iS^ew York to stay 
at the Bristead house. Ella Lowndes told it after 
church last Sunday. Wish the up train got here first, 
but it doesn’t.” 

Beth was amused. Funny that people imagined 
money in itself made such a difference I Neither Aunt 
Kebecca, without money, but with the inheritance of 
many generations of really fine people behind her, nor 
Aunt Alida, with immense wealth and genuine breed- 
ing, thought so It never occurred to Aunt Eebecca to 
measure people with a dollar sign. 

Beth found Miss Mary Bradley, her teacher of a year 
previous, on the platform and walked up and down with 
her till Miss Bradley’s train came. Beth watched the 
passengers board their train, waved a hearty farewell to 
Miss Bradley and, after the train had gone on, resumed 
her walk alone. 

When the train for which she waited came in sight 
Beth turned quite pale from excitement. She stood 
perfectly still, watching it glide toward her, and not 
only her feet, but her heart seemed to stand still. The 
train stopped. Beth strained her eyes looking, look- 
ing ! From the Pullman car came — Yes! Dirk! 


78 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Leaping off with great leaps and shouts and tearing 
down the platform to Beth, seizing her around the 
shoulders, shaking her and slapping her and shouting : 
“ You Beth ! Oh, you old Beth ! ” like a crazy boy. 
Then down the steps came Alys, actually crimson all 
over her usually pale face, smiling and waving both 
hands, in spite of what she carried. Close behind was 
Hatalie, a great deal handsomer than Beth remembered, 
so she thought, as her eyes fell on her cousin. 
Natalie waved her hands wildly, laughing and flushed, 
and both girls ran at Beth, snatched her off her feet, 
kissing her and holding her off, and hugging her again, 
while all the passengers on the train watched and were 
sympathetic while they laughed, though none of the 
four young people knew they were being watched. 

When Beth recovered her breath and rescued her be- 
loved panama hat from the dust of the platform, there 
was Anna Mary, Aunt Alida’s dignifled, elderly maid, 
smiling at Beth with a warmth of which no one would 
have thought her capable, and holding out her hand, 
saying : 

‘‘ Before they’ve killed you entirely. Miss Beth dear, 
say how do you do to Anna Mary, who’s not much less 
glad to see your dear little face again than are your 
demented cousins.” 

Whereupon Beth sprang up and hugged Anna Mary, 
with that utter inability to grasp the reason why she 
should not show affection to a servant which had rather 
worried Alys in New York, but which Chilton was to 
help her understand. 



KISSING HER AND HOLDING HER OFF 



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‘‘THE CORTLANDTS ARE COMING 


79 


“ Oh, Anna Mary, Anna Mary, I’m as glad as glad- 
ness to see you ! ” Beth cried. “ I’d no idea you were 
coming, neither had Aunt Rebecca, but I’m so glad to 
see you ! ” 

“ Your cousins could not travel alone. Miss Beth, far 
less stay at a hotel in Boston over night alone, at their 
age. You hadn’t considered that, I’m thinkin’. I’ll be 
goin’ straight back on a very good train that’s leavin’ 
here at 2 : 17, and makes good time to Boston. There’s 
no end of things waitin’ for me. I’m goin’ with Mrs. 
Cortlandt to Europe ; belike she’s told you. Where’ll 
I find the luggage carrier to give him these checks for 
the young ladies’ and Master Dirk’s trunks ? ” asked 
Anna Mary. 

“Right around the corn No; there he is!” 

Beth interrupted herself. “ He’s watching us, expect- 
ing the checks. I’ve engaged a station carriage to take 
us up home ; I walked down.” Then, as Anna Mary 
went toward the expressman, who advanced to meet 
her, Beth added : “ Oh, Nat, Alys, Dirk, you can’t be- 
gin to guess the first little bit of how glad, glad I am 
you’re here ! It doesn’t seem as though it could be 
home, the same old Chilton and you together ! ” 

“ Old Chilton sounds like cheese ! ” cried Dirk. “ You 
can bet your last cent I’m glad we came.” 

“We missed you so we were surprised ourselves,” 
added Alys. “ And the queer part was it got worse 
instead of better. I thought We’d get used to being 
without you, but we didn’t.” 

“Not a bit,” Natalie’s peculiarly sweet alto voice 


80 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


confirmed her sister. “ You had grown right around 
us. We’re so tremendously fond of you, little Cozbeth ! 
And I especially wanted to spend a while in Chilton. 
We’re going to be so happy ! ” 

“ If we are any happier than I am this minute it will 
carry me off and ‘you’ll never see your darling any 
more.’ ” Beth sang her quotation from “ ^N’ellie Gray,” 
and led the way to the carriage, waiting around the 
corner of the platform. 

They all got in, the three girls in the rear seat, Anna 
Mary and Dirk with the driver, who obligingly swung 
his feet out of the low park phaeton to get them out 
of the way. 

Thus they drove to the old Bristead house and Beth 
tried to realize that her Cortlandt cousins had actually 
come! 


CHAPTEE Y 


THE EXOTICS 


TINT KEBECCA was at the door, waiting to re- 



./jL ceive the travelers. Malvina Mellin was casually 
dusting the hat-rack in the hall, a slow process, though 
its lean frame offered few lurking places to dust. But 
Malvina had the stair rail in reserve should the hat-rack 
not hold out till the Cortlandts came. 

Alys and Dirk betrayed their uncertainty in regard 
to Aunt Eebecca in their hesitating approach, but 
Natalie sprang out of the carriage, ran up the graveled 
walk and into the house with such an air of impetuous 
pleasure that it insured her welcome. Natalie was 
daily growing more like her mother, in tact, as well as 
beauty. She was one of those happy souls gifted with 
a kindness that is also the highest wisdom. Thinking 
only of other people and of what she could say and do 
that would please them, she secured her own happiness 
by being without self-consciousness and invariably call- 
ing out the best in all with whom she came in contact. 
Now she ran up the steps to Aunt Eebecca, both hands 
extended, her glorious beauty alight. 

“ You’ve made us so happy. Miss Bristead, you can’t 
guess how happy ! We’ll try to make our stay happy, 
at least not to bother you,” she cried. 


81 


82 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ How do you do, Natalie ? ” Aunt Rebecca said me- 
chanically, quite overwhelmed for the moment by this 
tropically brilliant girl, with the radiant dark eyes 
hashing into hers from beneath the soft white hat, 
with its one crimson rose. “Beth couldn’t half de- 
scribe her ! ” Aunt Rebecca thought, amazed. 

But Aunt Rebecca was not a woman to remain 
stunned under the spell of beauty. “ How do you do, 
Alys ? ” she added, taking Alys’ hand. Alys, pale and 
pretty, but completely overshadowed by her sister, had 
followed Natalie. 

“ How do you do, Dirk ? You look a bigger boy 
than you sound when Beth talks about you.” Aunt 
Rebecca smiled at the boy kindly. Except Beth, who 
was the apple of her eye, dearer to her than the little 
girl knew. Aunt Rebecca preferred boys to girls, remem- 
bering her brothers of years gone by. 

“ How do you do, Anna Mary ? I was wondering if 
Mrs. Cortlandt would not send you to escort the chil- 
dren.” Aunt Rebecca greeted Anna Mary with genuine 
cordiality. She had heard from Beth of this woman’s 
helpfulness to the poor and rendered due tribute in her 
heart to Anna Mary’s goodness. 

“ I’ll be startin’ back again by that 2 : 17 train. Miss. 
Bristead ; my duty’s done ; the young ladies and Master 
Dirk are safe in your hands now,” said Anna Mary, re- 
garding with amazed disapproval Malvina Mellin sitting 
back on her heels absorbing the scene, without even 
the pretended moral support of dust on the hat-rack. 

“ Better have lunch at once, then,” suggested Aunt 


THE EXOTICS 


83 


Rebecca, and led the way into the living-room, not see- 
ing Anna Mary’s puzzled disgust for Malvina’s unbe- 
coming attitude. Aunt Rebecca thoroughly understood 
Malvina’s mental attitude which led to her physical 
one; it did not seem to her important. But Anna 
Mary regarded her with contempt, as one who did not 
know. On the other hand Malvina felt superior to 
Anna Mary as an American and a preacher’s daugh- 
ter. She had the American lack of perception which, 
in spite of Yankee quickness, does not see that self- 
assertion alone cannot raise a person to an equality 
that is not back of it. 

Beth felt the contradictory elements to her finger 
tips. She was too young to share Aunt Rebecca’s 
amused toleration for Malvina’s lack of manners for the 
sake of Malvina’s good qualities ; her understanding 
that Malvina shrank from the respectful courtesy ladies 
show one another, lest some one should think she was 
“ not a lady ” — fearful possibility, always before an 
ignorant American. 

Coming into the living-room, Beth was also acutely 
conscious of the flowered vases on the mantelpiece, the 
figure of Time with his scythe reclining on the clock, 
apparently ready to mow it down if it did not tell 
Time’s movements truthfully ; at the china boy, with 
the china tippet, carrying the match-box on bis plump 
shoulders ; the china lamb disporting itself on the other 
side of the clock as confidently as if he were really an 
ornamental ornament. She had vaguely disapproved 
of these things since she had come back, but now she 


84 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


saw them clearly, through Natalie and Alys’ eyes and 
they distressed her. 

But her cousins did not seem conscious of bric-a- 
brac. They were happily laying off their hats and 
coats, chattering as fast as their tongues would go and 
beaming at Beth so delightedly that suddenly the con- 
viction flooded her heart that they were so glad to see 
her that nothing mattered. After which, of course, 
nothing mattered to Beth, either, and she surprised 
them by laughing aloud in her relief at this discovery. 

“ Come up to your room and get ready for lunch — 
dinner,” Beth said. “There’s no use taking off your 
things here. Aunt Eebecca had to put you two in one 
room ; will you mind ? ” 

“Yes. We shall both want to sleep with you, 
Bethikins ! ” laughed Natalie, throwing her hat on her 
head again, gathering up her gloves and starting for 
the stairs with her coat hanging on one shoulder, fol- 
lowed by Alys, swinging her hat and carrying her coat 
over her shoulder, like a pedestrian on a walking tour. 

“ Come, Dirk ; you have to choose your room. We 
didn’t know which to give you,” said Beth, hopping 
from stair to stair with her feet tight together, her 
weight over the banister. She wanted to cheer, it was 
so good to be leading her cousins to their rooms and 
find them so ready to be contented. 

“ Hasn’t this a nice, old-fashioned, homey look ! ” ex- 
claimed Natalie as Beth threw open the door of the bed- 
room assigned to the girls. 

Beth glanced quickly from Natalie to Alys ; even 


THE EXOTICS 


85 


Alys looked with friendliness at the room and she 
was far less likely to adapt herself to untried conditions 
than Natalie. 

“ It is very light and bright. And how pretty that 
apple limb is, stretched right in front of the window ! ” 
Alys said, going over to look out at it. 

“ The blossoms are just off ; I was wishing hard that 
they would stay on for you to see them. And the sun 
has just gone around from this side ; this room is lovely 
and sunny all the forenoon. Sounds as though every- 
thing was just over — except you ; you’ve just begun ! ” 
Beth laughed. 

« "\^e’ve just begun the nicest kind of things, which 
we don’t know about yet,” declared Natalie. “ You 
dear little Cozbeth ! It’s so good to see your sweet lit- 
tle pinky face again ! You wouldn’t believe how we 
missed you and got hungry for you ! We were sur- 
prised ourselves. When mother found she ought to go 
to Aunt Justine, we made up our minds you were to be 
our consolation prize. I’ve got to hug you, you Eliza- 
beth honey-bunch ! ” 

Whereupon Natalie did hug Beth and Alys followed 
suit, both with all the force of excellent muscles, 
developed in the fine gymnasium at home. 

“ Oh,” gasped Beth. “ You’re no gladder than I am. 
I’m doubly glad ; glad to get you back and glad you 
honestly wanted me. If you can get on now I’ll take 
Dirk to his room.” 

“ Kun along ; we’re not afraid ! ” Alys laughed. 
“ Especially as here comes Anna Mary.” 


86 


BETH^S OLD HOME 


Just as she spoke Anna Mary found her way to the 
door, bringing the bag in which had been packed the 
necessities to tide over the journey, and the time of 
waiting for trunks. 

Beth led Dirk first to the prettier of the two rooms 
which Aunt Kebecca had to offer him and opened the 
door for his inspection of it. 

“ Oh, I don’t care, not a bit ! ” Dirk said. “ What 
difference does it make when you’re asleep ? And that’s 
what I’d always be in my room.” 

“ That’s when it would make a difference, Dirk,” 
Beth anxiously set him right. “ The other room doesn’t 
look as nice, but it gets the summer breeze.” 

She took her cousin on to show him the southern 
room, under the eaves. 

“ My cracky ! ” cried Dirk, the moment he had a 
glimpse inside. “ Doesn’t look as nice ! I wonder what 
you want ? Why, it’s a Jim dandy room ; I’d heaps 
rather have it, if I was awake. Looks like an old- 
fashioned, old-fashioned — I don’t know what. Some- 
thing like a room in a story. I’ll have this jumping, if 
your aunt doesn’t care which I say.” 

“ She surely doesn’t,” Beth assured him, much pleased. 
“ I’m so glad you feel that way toward this room ! I 
love the way the eaves come down in it, too, and when 
it rains — just you wait ! ” 

So this was satisfactorily settled. 

“ Say, Beth ! ” Dirk began in a shamefaced way. 
“ You know I’m just as glad as the girls are about get- 
ting here, don’t you ? I like full as well as they do to 


THE EXOTICS 


87 


have you around. We were pretty good friends last 
winter, I thought ! ” 

“ Of course we were, Dirk,” Beth promptly assented. 
“ I never thought I could like a boy, but you’re just 
like my brother — a nice brother. Oliver Little — well, 
he isn’t a bad boy, you know, but he certainly torments 
Janie almost crazy sometimes. I always told you I 
was glad I hadn’t a brother, judging by Xoll, till I had 
you, then I was glad I had my cousin-brother.” 

“You braced up our house for me for fair,” said Dirk 
enthusiastically. “ I never thought much of girls. 
You know Nat and Alys and I didn’t get near till you 
kind of hitched us up ; they’re all right, but they used 
to be snippy.” 

“ Hurry up and get ready,” Beth laughed. “ Boys 
and girls are both all right, when they are ! It’s just 
like any foreigners : you have to learn them ! I know 
there isn’t much time to get ready in, so don’t you 
waste any of it, Dirk ! I’m going.” 

Anna Mary dined with Malvina Mellin, while Ella 
Lowndes, who was about half as wide as Malvina, 
waited on the family. Beth surprised them by laugh- 
ing aloud twice. She would not explain why ; what 
she was thinking of was the effect that Malvina was 
probably having upon correct and conventional Anna 
Mary. 

Anna Mary held the hands of each of her charges in 
turn as she bade them good-bye with considerable feel- 
ing. “ I do hope you’ll be all right,” she said anxiously. 
“ Kemember what your mother bade you. Miss Natalie, 


88 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Miss Alys, Master Dirk, and obey Miss Bristead. Sure 
she’s brought up Miss Beth to be what she is, so you’re 
safe doin’ her commands. You’ve your father’s bankin’ 
address in London and Paris, Miss I^atalie ? Kemem- 
ber you’re to cable at once should anything go wrong ; 
don’t wait till it’s too late to be made right. And Miss 
Bristead has the docther’s address in New York and 
should you be seriously ill, any one of you, he’s to 
come and bring his own nurses. Your father laid great 
weight on that point. And you’ve the blank checks 
your father signed for you to fill out when you’re 
needin’ money ? That’s right. Don’t be careless with 
them ; they’re signed, so any one could use ’em, pro- 
vidin’ you couldn’t get paymint sthopped on ’em in time. 
That’s right. And be careful in all ways. Sure, I 
hope ’twill be a fine summer for you all. It’s queer to 
be leavin’ you, and your own payrints goin’ across. 
Good-bye, my dear young ladies and dear Master 
Dirk. Good-bye, dear little Miss Beth. Take care of 
your big cousins ! God bless you. And good-bye. 
Miss Bristead. I’m obliged for your kindness. I do 
hope you won’t be put about by the addition to your 
family. Mrs. Cortlandt charged me to bid you not let 
it make more difference to you than could be helped. 
Just to do with her children the same as with Miss 
Beth. Good-bye.” 

Anna Mary got into the station carriage, which had 
returned for her, and drove off without looking back, 
by which those she left knew that she was feeling 
strongly. A silence fell upon the little group as they 


THE EXOTICS 


89 


realized that with the departure of Anna Mary had 
fully begun the new experiences which were to be the 
Cortlandts’ for many weeks to come. 

Dirk broke this silence. “ Anna Mary was kind of 
like a cable. Xow it’s cut we’re really off, anchor’s 
gone ! What’s next ? We ought to get up steam,” he 
said. 

“ The next is getting acquainted in Chilton,” Beth 
answered. “ Janie Little’s coming pretty soon. She’ll 
probably bring some of the other girls with her ; she’ll 
be shy coming alone.” 

“ Boys too ? ” hinted Dirk. 

Beth shook her head hard. “ Xever thought of tell- 
ing them to come. You’ll have to find them yourself. 
T>/ey’ll be easy for you to talk to,” she suggested. 

“ Suppose I take a walk ? ” Dirk said. 

“ Suppose we all do ! ” Xatalie added. “ Why can’t 
we go to see the girls, Beth ? We brought some little 
things for Janie. You talked about her so much we 
know her. But we brought something for each of the 
other girls to whom you sent Christmas gifts. We 
want them to know we’re ready-made friends. 
Couldn’t we go to see them ? It’ll be dreadfully 
embarrassing to wait here in cold blood for them to 
come and look us over ; we won’t know what to say, 
then, of course, they won’t ! ” 

“ I believe it would be nicer,” Beth agreed, relieved 
at the prospect of release from a stiff hour which she 
had dreaded. “We wouldn’t have to stay anywhere 
after we’d said all we could think of, but when the girls 


90 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


didn’t know what to say they’d stay all the longer ! I 
would, myself, if I hadn’t been away and learned how 
to call.” 

“ Don’t you remember in ‘ Pickwick Papers ’ Sam 
Weller said the great art of letter writing was to break 
off short and make the reader wish for more?” 
laughed Natalie. “ It’s a still greater art in calling, be- 
cause the one you’re visiting can’t fold you up and lay 
you away till later, as she could a letter.” 

“ Well, if we’re going ” hinted Dirk. “ Oh, say, 

what a nice yellow kitten ! Is that the one they saved 
for you while you were gone ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Beth, surveying with pride the golden 
kitten that came arching its back toward her, fully 
aware of its beauty and the splendor of a yellow satin 
neck ribbon it was wearing. “ I don’t know what to 
name him. Midas,, maybe — for the golden touch? 
Middy for short. I like that best, so far.” 

Dirk caught up the kitten and rubbed his cheek 
against its peculiarly soft fur. “ He’s a peach and a 
pippin. Why not call him Pippin ? They’re yellow, 
aren’t they? Oh, I know! What’s that mine? 
Golconda ! Name him Golconda, after the gold mine 
and call him Golly for short ! ” Dirk chuckled. 

“ Goodness ! Imagine Aunt Kebecca hearing me call 
a kitten : ‘ Golly, Golly, Golly ! ’ ” Beth could not 
help laughing, but she looked alarmed by the thought. 
“ You won’t dress, girls ? Get your hats and let’s 
start.” 

“ Don’t you want us to look our best ? We must 


THE EXOTICS 


91 


show you what we brought, and you decide what girl 
to give the things to,” said Alys, starting toward the 
door. 

She and Natalie were not gone long, though they 
had slipped out of their traveling suits into afternoon 
gowns, suitable to the early warmth. The costumes 
were of the simplest : Natalie’s a green voile over 
darker green silk ; Alys’, a silvery silk, with tiny 
pinkish blossoms scattered closely over it, but Natalie’s 
brown tints were so well brought out by the green, 
Alys’ delicate pallor so adorned by the gray and pink, 
the hats they wore were so entirely, though simply, 
beyond Chilton’s dreams, the fresh little gowns so 
eloquent of skilled workmanship, that Beth felt alarmed 
by the certainty that her cousins would strike her play- 
mates dumb — unless it were Edith ; there was some 
chance of Edith rising above her awe. 

Natalie and Alys laid their offerings on the table. 
Three they separated from the others. 

“ These are Janie’s, one from each of us. One is a 
dear embroidered collar ; mother ordered it from a 
sweet French girl she wanted to help. Mother bought 
a Japanese fan for Dirk to give her, and I found a tiny 
chain with a sapphire dingle-dangle that will go well 
with the circle pin with sapphires you sent her Christ- 
mas,” said Natalie, touching the three packages as she 
spoke. “ But we have a bar pin, a hat pin, shoe buckles, 
a pinkie ring, a really nice stick pin. They’re all the 
same value, or as near as can be. You’re to decide 
which girl would rather have Mercy ! How am 


92 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


I to end that sentence? You choose something for 
each of the girls.” 

“ Without seeing them ? No, don’t open them ; 
they’re done up better than we could do them again,” 
Beth stopped Natalie as she reached out for the little 
packages. “ Daisy is proud of her little feet ; give her 
the buckles. Nellie wants a bar pin, I know. Kuth 
has the dearest hands ! Give her the ring. Edith is 
best for the stick pin ; she loves soft collars with ties. 
That leaves the hat pin for May. It wasn’t hard to 
decide after all, easier I guess not seeing the things and 
getting stirred up by them ! ” Beth was surprised to 
find the decisions made. “ Keady ? ” she added. 

For the first time then the Cortlandts walked out on 
the Chilton streets, Beth between Natalie and Alys, 
and Dirk following after. Cricket went ahead, or fell 
behind, according to whether he remembered or forgot 
that Beth was not walking with Janie, to whom he had 
grown accustomed. He was still the most timid of 
small dogs, though now adoring Beth and satisfied that 
none of his acquaintances meant him actual harm. But 
toward the rest of the world he felt a doubt so strong 
as hardly to be a doubt. Dirk tried to win him, but 
Cricket fell far behind with his funny, soft little body 
held ready for flight if Dirk should wait for him. 
When Dirk gave up wooing him Cricket plucked up 
heart and got ahead, circuitously ; so he went, work- 
ing out in his own person the old problem of the frog- 
in-the-well. 

Janie Little’s was the first house they came to. 


THE EXOTICS 


93 


They found Janie just ready, and dreading, if the 
truth were known, to set out to keep her engagement 
with Beth. With her were May and Ruth, nobly ready 
to support Janie. 

“ Oh, I’m glad you came here instead ! ” sighed 
Janie, involuntarily, as she came to admit Beth, 
“ Pleased to meet you,” Janie murmured as Beth in- 
troduced her cousins. Natalie struck Janie as almost 
grown up and crushingly handsome and well-dressed. 
Alys’ quiet air of elegance was no better, while Dirk — 
well, what would any one feel who had to talk to a 
new boy ? 

May and Ruth’s greetings did not pass articulately 
beyond their lips, but kind, motherly Mrs. Little saved 
the day. 

“ I’m just as glad to see you, children, as I can be,” 
she said with unmistakable sincerity. “You did so 
much for our little Beth last winter we all love you. 
Beth is almost like another child of my own to me ; 
she and Janie have been playing together ever since 
they could toddle. You’ve got to let us take you right 
in, too ; being Beth’s cousins you belong to us. Beth’s 
told us what dear children you are.” 

“ Isn’t that nice, Mrs. Little ! Thank you ever so 
much,” cried Natalie, with relief. “ If only you can 
make Janie like us ! And the rest of the girls. We 
want to have all of Beth’s things and people ours, 
too.” 

“ They ought to be,” Mrs. Little seemed sure of it. 
“ I shouldn’t be one bit surprised if it turned out you’d 


94 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


came here for some reason. I think it often happens 
that way ; we think we do things just because we want 
to and all the time there’s a plan behind our wanting that 
made us want, maybe ! Janie, just you run around and 
collect Daisy and Nellie and Edith. You may just as 
well get together here, and save the children making so 
many calls. Don’t you hate calling on folks you don’t 
know ? I do. Now you know us, you may’s well stay 
right here, and mix the rest of the girls into the cake 
we’ve already got rising ! Besides, speaking of cake, 
I’ve some cookies that will sort of draw us together, 
fresh ones. I’d dare say you don’t have real home- 
made, fresh cookies in New York ! ” 

“ Indeed we don’t ! I know the sort you mean, 
though,” said Alys, thawing out of her usual reserve 
under this kindly woman’s frank pleasure in them and 
her cordiality. “ Janie, we’re friends already, because 
you know it was all settled last year that you were 
coming to visit us, Beth and the Cortlandts, in New 

York. So ” She stopped, for Natalie warned her 

with a glance. 

“We know all Beth’s friends,” Natalie took up the 
tale, with her mother’s tact. “ May, and Ruth, too, 
and Daisy, Nellie, and Edith, though we haven’t seen 
them yet. We brought our friends the least, wee little 
gift ; here they are ! But let’s wait to open them after 
the others come — if Janie is going to fetch them ? ” 

“ Who’ll come with me ? ” asked J anie, and May and 
Ruth eagerly embraced the opening thus made. 

Mrs. Little bustled out to the side door. She moved 


THE EXOTICS 


95 


quickly, with many extra motions, though she was a 
large woman. They heard her calling out of the door 
that led into the side yard ; “ Xoll ! Xoll ! Oliver Little ! 
Come in here and take Dirk Cortlandt out to the barn 
with you. He’ll like to see that set of shelves you’re 
building for my jellies.” 

She came back, smiling, but breathless, and presently 
Xoll, an older boy than Dirk, about thirteen, Alys’ age, 
came in. He was like his mother, more so than Janie, 
who had a serious face and manner. Oliver had his 
mother’s smiling, merry look, with mischief added to it 
wholesale. He wore a loose shirt, and shavings and 
the odor of pine were about him, but he did not look 
in the least embarrassed on finding handsome, fifteen- 
year-old Xatalie and elegant Alys there. He walked 
up to them and shook hands heartily when his mother 
introduced him and said : 

“ How are you ? Hope you’ll like Chilton. Just a 
mite of a place, but what would you expect, named 
after a cheese ? They say Hew York is bigger ; never 
was there. Hallo, Dirk ! Heard of you. Want to 
come out to my shop ? ” 

Dirk decidedly wanted to go. He instantly liked 
this offhand boy, just enough older than himself to be 
at once companionable and impressive. 

‘‘ See that you come when I call you, son,” Mrs. Lit- 
tle warned Holl, as he and Dirk went out of the room. 
‘‘ Janie has gone to fetch the rest of the girls and we’re 
to have cookies and chocolate after a while. See you 
come ! ” 


96 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


“ We’ll come like comers from Comeville, muddy,” 
said Oliver jubilantly, and Dirk went off, wondering if 
this boy could be the one that Beth had found annoy- 
ing to her and Janie. 

Janie brought back the other three girls. Natalie, 
Edith, Beth and Mrs. Little exerted themselves to 
“ limber up the others,” as Natalie said afterward. But 
Natalie was “ going-on ” sixteen ; she seemed quite be- 
yond the range of these simple Chilton lassies, with her 
years added to her great beauty and her impressive 
clothes. Alys was as reserved as Janie herself ; it was 
hard to make the new acquaintance easy all around. 

Natalie produced her gifts, giving them as Beth had 
suggested. 

But you must trade with any one who likes what 
you have better than her own, if at the same time you 
like hers better than your own,” Natalie announced. 
“ You see we didn’t know this time just what you each 
wanted.” 

The ring and the buckles and the stick pin proved per- 
manent, but the hat pin and the bar pin changed owners, 
Nellie having just received a bar pin from her mother. 

“If you don’t mind,” Nellie said timidly, as she and 
May made the exchange. 

“ Goodness, why should we ? They’re meant to en- 
joy ; not as handcuffs ! ” Natalie cried, but May and 
Nellie did not smile, only murmured : 

“ You are very kind. We’re ever so much obliged.” 

“ Cookie time, Janie ! ” Mrs. Little announced. “ I’ll 
make you children chocolate, or lemonade — which ? ” 


THE EXOTICS 


97 


She looked at Xatalie and Alys, but they shook their 
heads. 

‘‘ Chilton chooses. W e’re too new. W e’ll choose next 
time,” said Natalie. 

So “ Chilton chose ” lemonade by a unanimous vote, 
it was so warm a day. Mrs. Little set the girls to help 
make it in her spotless kitchen, and called Oliver and 
Dirk to get ice from her ice-house. The coziness of the 
kitchen and the work in it brought the girls into freer 
relations with the strangers. Breaking the ice for 
lemonade broke the ice of formality also. Then Noll 
joined them and no one could be stiff where Oliver 
Little was. He was as full of tricks as a monkey and 
Dirk ably seconded him. 

After the guests had borne their own refreshments 
into the dining-room and taken them with profound 
satisfaction, Natalie offered to show the girls some of 
the pretty fancy dances which she and Alys had been 
taught. 

“ Edith can play for you. Just tell her the time and 
she’ll play anything,” Beth said proudly. “ The rest of 
us are learning to play, but Edith can play now ; she 
was born playing ! ” 

At which they all laughed and Noll sat down and 
rapidly sketched a big, bald-headed infant playing the 
piano, with little bare feet on the pedals and tiny hands 
painfully stretched upward to reach the keys, while its 
back hung on the edge of the piano stool. 

“ That’s clever ! ” cried Natalie admiringly. “ That’s 
very clever, Oliver Little ! ” 


98 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Mrs. Little beamed on her. She knew that her son’s 
talent was beyond the ordinary. 

Then Natalie and Alys danced and Edith played, 
with such display of talent that Beth’s statement 
seemed hardly to have been exaggerated. Beth knew 
before they began how Natalie and Alys would dance ; 
she had seen their art — for that it was — in New York. 

The Chilton girls applauded wildly, eyes sparkling, 
all their shyness gone. No one could resist the beauti- 
ful motions with which Natalie and Alys danced them- 
selves into their admiration. 

“ It’s great ! ” cried timid Euth, the least likely of 
them all to express herself. 

“We might have a dancing club meet once, or twice, 
a week ? ” suggested Alys. 

“ We’d be thankful for it, wouldn’t we, girls ? ” said 
Mrs. Little. “ There is no one here to teach good danc- 
ing.” 

“ We’d never dance like that, but maybe we’d dance 
like something else, decently,” volunteered Janie. 

Beth wound her arm around Janie in the hall, slip- 
ping back again after they were all started for home 
and her cousins were talking, for a last moment, with 
the other girls. 

“Aren’t they just dear? Don’t you like them, 
Janie ? ” Beth implored her. 

“ They are just dear,” said honest Janie, reluctantly. 
“ They aren’t any more like us than — than — than any- 
thing you could think of ! They’re pretty and nice 
mannered and kind. They know how to do everything 


THE EXOTICS 


99 


and talk to everybody. But — I don’t see how I can 
like them, though it’s awful not to ! We had such fun, 
Beth ; just you and me ! ” 

“ We’ll have just as much fun with them, Janie, and 
it will always be you and me, because it always was ! 
I must go. Please love them, Janie. They’ll love 
you.” 

On the way home the Cortlandt girls sought truth- 
ful terms in which to praise Beth’s Chilton comrades, but 
Alys, who never, like Natalie, weighed the effect on 
others of what she might say, said : 

“ Funny ! I’m thirteen, and they must be eleven and 
twelve ? You’re eleven, Beth. But they seem ever so 
much younger than I am. So do you, but not in their 
way. It’s awfully hard work breaking into Chilton 
society, isn’t it, Bethie ? ” 

‘‘ That’s the girl of it,” commented Dirk scornfully. 
“ It’s easy as fiddle for boys. Noll and I just got to- 
gether like water ! ” 


CHAPTEK VI 


“buttered paws!” 

E AELY the next morning Beth, unable to sleep, 
slipped out of bed and into her bedroom shoes 
and kimono and crept down-stairs. Presently I^atalie 
and Alys, wakened early, also, by the sunrise directly 
in front of their windows, heard Beth’s padded footfall 
outside their door and knew she was creeping about to 
listen, divided in mind between a conscientious intention 
not to waken her cousins and a strong hope that they 
were already awake. 

“ Bethikins ! Who-oo ! Good-morning ! ” called Alys 
softly, considering Aunt Kebecca’s probable last nap. 

Beth opened the door and came in with a beaming 
“ morning face.” In her hand she held a butter plate 
with a small bit of butter on it. 

“ I’m so glad you’re awake ! ” Beth said. “ I jumped 
right out of bed, wondering what had happened and 
how I had overslept so late, and just that minute my 
little clock you gave me struck three ! Then I managed 
to go to sleep for a while, but I woke up for good and 
all at twenty minutes past four. It doesn’t seem as 
though you could be here, sleeping here and waking 
up here, like any one else 1 ” 

“ Taking naturally to the custom of the country, just 
100 


BUTTEEED PAWS ! 


101 


as if W6 weren’t foreigners! It is strange,” Natalie 
supplemented her gravely. “ It’s not half bad to wake 
up and see you the first thing, Miss Elizabeth Bristead ! 
What in the world are you doing with that piece of 
butter ? I didn’t know we were to have breakfast in 
bed, but, if we are, I’m honestly afraid we’ll want more 
butter than that and — maybe? — a piece of bread 
with it.” 

“ It’s not to eat,” Beth exclaimed, her face serious, 
but her eyes dancing. “ You know if you butter a 
cat’s paws, when she’s moved to a new home, she 
stays. This is to butter your paws with — I’m going 
to do it.” 

“ Well, I rather guess you’re not ! ” cried Alys, pull- 
ing up her feet hastily as Beth moved toward the bed 
to carry out her threat. She wrapped them up in her 
gown and held it twisted around them with one hand 
while she made ready to ward off Beth with the other. 

Feigning assault on Alys, Beth made a dab at 
Natalie and succeeded in getting a touch of butter on 
her heel. 

“ Avaunt ! Get away, you little nuisance ! ” cried 
Natalie, promptly rolling over and out of bed and 
catching Beth in her strong young arms. “ Come on, 
Alys ; we’ll show her that cats can do more with their 
paws than have them buttered 1 ” 

Alys unwrapped her feet and accepted the invitation. 
It was two to one, two bigger girls at that, and Beth 
was laughing so that she could not defend herself. 
Natalie and Alys tickled her and shook her and finally 


102 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


picked her up bodily and dropped her in the middle of 
their bed. 

“ Get up on your knees, miss,” Natalie cried with an 
inspiration, “ and repeat : 

I'm but a butter-in ; 

I repent me of my sin I 
I’ll put the butter by. 

I'll let the butter fly. 

But butter I’ll not try 
On pussy’s paws — 'cause why ! " 

Beth laughed so she could not repeat Natalie’s non- 
sensical recantation, though she got on her knees in 
the middle of the bed, as the girls bade her, and breath- 
lessly tried to repeat the doggerel. 

“ Now will you be good ! ” panted Alys, considerably 
out of breath herself. 

Then, falling over crosswise of the bed, the two 
older girls, with Beth between them, settled down for 
a murmuring talk, kept subdued for fear of waking 
Aunt Kebecca, who could not possibly have slept 
through the squeals of laughter which had accompanied 
the tussle. 

“ There’s one person I want to know about and to 
see, Bethie,” said Natalie. “ Do you remember that 
you sent a pink dancing gown to a cripple girl here, 
last Christmas, because you knew she never had any- 
thing of that sort, and you had an idea it might make 
her feel she was getting well to get it ? 

“ That pleased mother so much ; she hasn’t stopped 


'' BUTTEEED PAWS I 


103 


speaking of it yet — it was so funny, but so nice 
funny ! ” Natalie added, as Beth nodded her con- 
firmation of this reminiscence. 

“ She’s Miriam Gaines,” Beth said. “ She’s just as 
crippled as ever, and the pink dancing gown pleased 
her more than I thought it would. She has it on her 
couch ever so often and her mother often puts it on 
her. You easily can see her. Why do you want to ? ” 

“ More butter on our paws ! ” Natalie’s laugh rose a 
few notes higher than she meant it to. “We must 
learn to be thorough Chiltonettes.” 

Aunt Rebecca tapped on the door. “ Why don’t you 
get dressed and go out, since you are all three awake ? ” 
she asked. 

Beth jumped up and opened to her. “ How did you 
know I was here, Aunt Rebecca ?” she cried. “We 
didn’t want to get dressed and go down for fear of 
disturbing you.” 

“Considerate children! I’m much obliged,” Aunt 
Rebecca said with her short laugh. “ But, since you 
see I am awake, get dressed and take your cousins with 
you to fetch the milk. Perfect morning I ” 

“ Why, sure enough ! Funny I never thought ! ” 
said Beth, turning back in the doorway to Natalie and 
Alys, who were still on the bed, shaking with laughter 
over Aunt Rebecca’s insinuation that they had not 
been perfectly quiet. “We get milk from Mrs. Gaines, 
Miriam’s mother. Sometimes I go after it, sometimes 
Jimmy Gaines brings it ; if I’m not there by half-past 
seven Jimmy knows he’s to come. Let’s I mean 


104 BETH’S OLD HOME 

would you like to take a walk before breakfast ? Ill 
be ready soon.” 

“ Of course we would ! ” Katalie was on her feet as 
she spoke, shaking a stocking and looking for its mate. 
“ What fun to get up and go after milk, and not have 
a single scrap of a maid to come to help one dress ! 
I’m going to love being here, Bethie ! ” 

“ See you do ! And right along ; the first morning 
doesn’t count ! ” Beth warned her, but she ran away to 
her own room, singing like a blackbird, delighted that 
everything had begun well. 

Natalie and Alys came down, one in a tan linen, the 
other in a green — which was the best they could do in 
the way of simple morning dressing, yet, again, Beth 
saw at a glance that they looked quite unlike the Chil- 
ton girls in their morning ginghams. 

“We didn’t know what you’d want us to wear, 
Beth,” Alys said at once. “ It’s like you in New York 
— we must learn ! But we thought going for milk 
sounded like our plainest.” 

“ If only your things weren’t so terribly nice and 
stylish ! ” sighed Beth. “ I suppose those Aunt Alida 
got for me to wear this summer are just as bad — I 
mean as good ! But the girls know who is inside of 
mine, so they overlook it. I don’t believe they’ll ever 
get really well acquainted with you.” 

Alys tucked her hand into Beth’s arm, though she 
was not given to little affectionate ways, as Natalie was. 

“ I can’t seem to make it matter, Bethie,” she said. 
“We can have just as good times by ourselves. In 


“ BUTTEEED PAWS ! 


106 


New York you never got well acquainted with our 
friends. Do you care a lot if these girls are stand- 
offish ? ” 

“ I don’t know — I guess I don’t,” said Beth honestly. 
“ It would be nice if they got used to you. I like 
them, but — I like Edith next to Janie. I care a lot 
about Janie’s keeping with us.” 

“ Then Janie shall,” said Natalie decidedly. “ We’ll 
thaw Janie if it takes all the coal in Pennsylvania 
shipped here ! ” 

Privately Natalie had thought Janie just a nice little 
girl, like thousands of other nice little girls. “ But 
Beth and she have always been together ; of course 
they’re fond of each other, and if Beth wants Janie to 
like us, like us Janie shall ! ” thought pretty Natalie, 
with good ground for confidence in her own powers to 
coax. 

Oh, I think Janie does like you, now, without one 
lump of coal,” laughed Beth. “ Why didn’t we call 
Dirk to come with us ? ” There was keen self-reproach 
in Beth’s voice as she uttered the thought that had just 
struck her. 

“ Dirk is gone,” said Alys. “ I did go to his room 
and it was empty. He had pinned a sheet of brown 
paper on his pillow and scrawled on it : ‘ Gone fishing 
with Oliver Little.’ No need to worry about Master 
Dirk’s pining.” 

“ Aren’t Chilton streets nice, so rested ! ” Natalie 
said, with a long indrawn breath of the morning sweet- 
ness. 


106 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ Kestful ? ” hinted Beth, looking greatly pleased by 
Natalie’s pleasure. 

“ Yes, but I meant rested. Just as if they went 
along so softly and quietly that they did not get a bit 
tired being streets. Some streets are all flustered and 
out of breath ; they look as if they were hurrying and 
panting to hold out to the other end of them. But 
these are shady and peaceful and easy-going, look as if 
they had been nice, polite streets for years and never 
allowed themselves to get excited.” Natalie smiled at 
her own fancy, but elucidated it carefully, for it held 
an accurate image of Chilton in her mind. 

‘‘ They have been ; they never do ! ” cried Beth de- 
lighted with the notion. “How nice you are, Nat- 
lings, to see right away what Chilton’s like ! That’s 
Mrs. Gaines’ house, the little yellow one down there. 
She’s a widow.” 

“ It looks as though you’d get good milk there. I 
don’t know why ; not because cream is yellow, but it 
looks like the kind of house where they had good 
milk,” said Alys unexpectedly. “ Maybe they won’t 
want us to come in ; it’s so early they may not be 
ready for strangers.” 

“ Oh, this isn’t early for them I And we do get 
splendid milk here. Come in.” Beth stepped aside to 
let her cousins pass her, after she had opened the low 
gate, and the three girls went up the walk. Mrs. 
Gaines came to the door, a milk can in her hand. 

“ I want to know if these are your Noo York cous- 
ins, Beth ? I felt sure it was goin’ to turn out to be 


BUTTEEED PAWS ! 


107 


they, when I saw you on your way. Nice of you to 
come after the milk and bring ’em right away ! I 
wonder if they’d mind steppin’ in and speakin’ to 
Miriam ? She’s as interested as she can be in seein’ 
’em, says maybe she’ll get a chance to wear that pink 
dress to a real occasion, now they’re here. Though 
how or why beats me ! Walk right in, if you don’t 
mind ; you know the way, Beth.” 

“We came purposely to see Miriam,” said Beth. 
“ My Cousin Natalie asked me to bring her. They 
knew about Miriam when I was with them last 
winter.” 

“ Sendin’ that perfectly crazy dancin’ dress to a crip- 
ple girl ; no wonder ! ” Mrs. Gaines set open the door 
at the end of the narrow entry which admitted to the 
lame girl’s room. “ Miriam, here’s Beth brought her 
Noo York cousins to get the milk and see you ! ” Mrs. 
Gaines announced triumphantly. 

A face that looked like a larger sized squirrel’s, so 
small and pointed it was, with such quick, bright eyes 
set in it, turned on the pillow of the couch and raised 
up, to be supported by a bird-claw of a hand, as the in- 
quisitive eyes turned on the visitors. 

“ The light one’s Alys — not Alice, Alys ; Beth told 
me. And the dark one’s Natalie. You’re just about 
what I knew you were, only Natalie’s just one thou- 
sand and one times prettier,” said Miriam Gaines. She 
had a quickness of speech that was marvelous and 
spoke breathlessly, as though she had been running. 
She was conscious of this, for she said next: “The 


108 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


reason I pant is my chest ; the crippledness presses, but 
it doesn’t hurt me to talk, not a bit. Could you come 
over close ? ” 

“ Indeed we could I ” Natalie put out both hands 
and Miriam took them and before she relinquished 
them pressed them to her cheek with an indescribably 
pathetic movement. Then she repeated her greeting to 
Alys. 

“ That’s ’nitiation,” she explained. “ Now you’re 
’nitiated. That’s the way I take in people to belong to 
me. Your rings ? Yes, you’ve got ’em on ! ” Her 
voice rang out in shrill triumph. “ Just like Beth’s. 
You needn’t think I don’t know ; I do know, but it is 
harder to believe than any story book. I know a 
prince, a real prince, gave you those rings and made 
you into an Order, the Strong of Heart, and you choose 
to do what’s right, even when it’s something horrid to 
choose ! I know.” 

“ Dear little Miriam, you certainly do know,” said 
Natalie with gentle emphasis. 

“ I’m thirteen ; not so little,” Miriam said. “ But 
you thought of it, didn’t you ? I don’t have to choose 
hard things, do I ? I wish I could belong. I could 
have some kind of a ring, even if ’twasn’t the same, 
and if I belonged it would kind of help, maybe. You 
don’t have sort of junior members, who don’t count so 
much, because they don’t get a chance to choose, but 
who kind of keep along, standing what they get, sort 
of the best way they can make out, do you ? ” 

Natalie’s beautiful eyes were overflowing with pity 


'' BUTTEEED PAWS ! 


109 


and her voice was very low and soft as she bent toward 
Miriam, looking up at her with appeal in her restless 
face. 

“We never thought about more members, Miriam 
dear,” Natalie said. “ I think there is no doubt we 
could take you in, though ; you surely belong to the 
Order of the Strong Hearted.” 

“ ’Twouldn’t be the same’s if the prince had taken 
me in. But of course he couldn’t, and I don’t know 
him, like you do. I guess you no need to take me in, 
thank you. But I’d have liked ever so well if I’d been 
there and he could — His Koyal Highness ! I keep say- 
ing that to myself and remembering Beth knows him. 
It’s perfectly wonderful to know a prince ! ” Miriam’s 
wistful voice was dropped in awe. 

“ Isn’t it ! ” echoed Beth. “ We’ve got to go right 
back, Miriam. We’ll come soon, really, to see you.” 

The girls went out again upon the quiet street. 
There sat Cricket, pensive at the gate, waiting, having 
followed at a cautious distance. 

“ Come along, little doglums ! Did you follow your 
mother, Crickety-puppity ? Isn’t he funny ? Girls, let’s 
write the prince and get him to take Miriam into the 
Order ! I know he would and only think how she’d 
feel ! I believe it would be the next to being able to 
walk ! ” cried Beth. 

Natalie and Alys stopped short, regarding Beth. 
“ Such an easy thing to think of and it never occurred 
to us ! ” cried Natalie. “ Of course we will and of 
course he will ! ” 


110 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


“ Where do you ad dress him ? J ust England, London, 
where ? ” asked Beth. 

“I'm sure I don’t Why, yes, I do! We’ll in- 

close the letter to mother and get her to send it to the 
prince I It will get there almost as soon as she does. 
She sails to-morrow. We’ll mail the letter to father’s 

London banker Oh, Cozbeth, what a duck of a 

thing you are to think of anything so delicious ! ” 

The girls hurried home and through their breakfast. 
Dirk was disgusted with them for their complete in- 
difference to his fishing excursion till he heard their 
story, then he forgot fishing, too, and threw himself 
heart and soul into the project of writing the prince, 
for whose fine young manliness Dirk had retained the 
greatest admiration. 

The beautiful weather held no spell to lure these 
four from Miss Bristead’s sitting-room where they 
labored all the forenoon over the composition of their 
joint letter to the prince. 

“ I’ve not the least idea,” Aunt Kebecca said, when 
they asked her how they would best phrase it. “ The 
nearest I have ever come to the English royal family 
was when my great-great-grandfather was wounded at 
Saratoga, fighting against King George.” 

“ I don’t think we can justly lay that up against the 
prince. Aunt Kebecca,” said Beth with her funny little 
air of gravity. 

After much debate they decided that the letter must 
be begun : “ Dear Cousin Hal.” 

“That is what he made us call him the day he 


“ BUTTERED PAWS ! 


111 


founded the Order. The dignified names will be on 
the outside,” said Beth. And so it was done. 

After this beginning the letter went on swimmingly, 
Dirk writing and the girls composing, for Dirk excelled 
in the workmanship and the girls in the literary side of 
letter writing. 

“ Do you remember your four young American 
‘ cousins ’ ? ” the letter asked the prince. “ Natalie 
and Alys and Dirk Cortlandt and Beth Bristead, arid 
how you took them to ride out on ‘ the Quiet Road,’ 
that lovely morning last Eastertide ? And how you 
founded for them the Order of the Strong Hearted ? ” 

Then the letter went on to tell him, with simple 
sincerity that brought Miriam’s pitiful fate clearly 
before one, about the little cripple girl, a poor child at 
that, who wanted to join the Order “ because it might 
help her to bear the hard things laid upon her, though 
she did not deserve full rank in the Order, since she 
could never have the merit of choosing the thornier path.” 

“ Cousin Hal, who ought to be your Royal Highness, 
will you send a line to us telling us that Miriam Gaines 
has been admitted to the Order of the Strong Hearted ? 
It will make her so happy and help her so much to bear 
her life. Never mind the ring. We’ll get her a ring 
that will do. We send you our respectful love and 
hope you are well and as happy as you made us that 
beautiful day, which we shall never forget. We hope 
all the royal children you told us about, your nephews 
and nieces, are well. What we really send you is our 
true, grateful love, not our stiff respects. (This was 


112 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Beth’s addition, upon which she insisted.) Signed : 
Natalie Cortlandt. Alys Cortlandt. Elizabeth Bris- 
tead. Dirk Cortlandt.” 

With many rereadings the letter was dispatched, in a 
hastily scrawled note from Natalie, to Aunt Alida, in 
the London bankers’ care. 

After it was sealed and Dirk had torn off to the post- 
office to mail it, as if its receipt and safety depended 
upon the speed of his legs, the girls sank back and 
looked at one another. After such a venture daily 
life lost its flavor for a while and the next move was 
hard to decide upon. 

“ Let’s spend the afternoon to match the forenoon — 
by being just the opposite ! ” Beth suggested. 

“There’s a suggestion worthy of good old Tim!” 
cried Alys. “ What do you mean by ‘ matching by 
being the opposite ’ ? ” 

“ We’ve been trying to do something for a girl that 
can’t put her foot to the floor this morning. Suppose 
this afternoon we get the girls together and teach them 
to dance ? ” Beth exclaimed. 

“ Here ? ” asked Alys, without undue enthusiasm. 

“ Aunt Eebecca said she didn’t mind. Shall I go tell 
them ? ” Beth half arose. 

“I’m ready,” said Natalie. “Your aunt said she’d 
show me something about lace darning. She’s going 
to mend a scarf. Those are the things I mean to learn 
this summer, while I’m with her, the things old-fash- 
ioned ladies knew and which don’t seem to come our 
way at all at home.” 


'' BUTTEEED PAWS ! 


113 


Natalie went up-stairs, Beth departed to collect her 
Chilton friends, whose likelihood of feeling slighted was 
constantly before her. 

Natalie paused at Aunt Kebecca’s half open door, 
tapped lightly on a panel and called : “ Here’s Natalie. 
May she come in ? ” 

“Surely,” said Aunt Kebecca and looked up with 
pleasure to see the lovely young face smiling at her in 
the doorway. 

“ I’m not doing the darning, Natalie ; shall to-mor- 
row,” Aunt Kebecca said. “ But come in and sit down.” 

Natalie obeyed. She looked around the room. It 
was comfortably furnished, but without reference to 
beauty. The chairs were good, the old mahogany 
bureau even fine ; there was a great armchair, chintz- 
covered, so big that “ they’d have to send out the town 
crier to find whoever sat in it,” Natalie said to herself. 
There were pictures on the wall, hanging there as if 
they stated that nobody knew any other place to hang 
them, and a delightful sampler worked by a long dead 
Bristead child. Books lay everywhere, solid reading, 
poems, the best novels and the higher class magazines. 
The room was a revelation of Aunt Rebecca, as most 
rooms long inhabited do reveal their occupants. Every- 
thing was good, sensible, nothing was for mere adorn- 
ment, nothing trivial ; yet, without outer beauty, every- 
thing spoke of earnestness of purpose and a lofty aim. 

“ It is a pleasure to see you, Natalie,” said Aunt 
Rebecca. “ You remind me of Beth’s mother.” 

“ I ? ” exclaimed Natalie. “ Why, father says Beth 


114 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


is very like her, only more serious, and Beth and I 
aren’t a bit alike. I’m almost exactly like my mother ; 
I can see it myself.” 

“ I’ve no doubt. You don’t look like your aunt, but 
resemblances are queer things ; at times you remind me 
of her. I was exceedingly fond of your young aunt, 
Nannie Bristead. When my nephew brought her 
home to me I was anything but pleased, but no one 
could have shut their heart to her. I never talked to 
Beth about her ; some day I must. You know your 
grandfather forbade her marrying my nephew — as 
splendid a boy as ever walked this earth ! — and never 
forgave her for disobeying him ? ” Aunt Kebecca 
stopped. It was against her principles to talk about 
Natalie’s grandfather to her although this was an old 
story, Beth’s mother and Beth’s father and old Mr. 
Cortlandt all being many years dead. 

“ I know ; father has told us,” Natalie said gently. 
“ What a dreadful pity that it all happened ! Father 
says if Aunt Nan had lived, Grandfather Cortlandt 
would have welcomed her and baby Beth.” 

“ Very likely. Of course he would,” Aunt Eebecca 
amended her assent. “ Natalie, I want to get real well 
acquainted with you this summer. I want to know all 
I can of the oldest Cortlandt cousin. Sometimes I 

think I’m not perfectly well But don’t you ever 

hint that to Beth ! ” she added hastily. “ If anything 
happened to me, your father and mother would take my 
little girl. I’d like to know you well, since you’re their 
representative here.” 


BUTTEEED PAWS ! 


115 


“ Indeed I’d love to know you well ! ” cried Natalie, 
inexplicably moved by this confidence from self-con- 
tained Miss Bristead. “ May I begin by calling you 
Aunt Rebecca, please ? It’s hard to say Miss Bristead 
when Beth doesn’t and when I know my father’s sister 
Nan loved and called you Aunt Rebecca. My father 
loved her so dearly ! ” 

“You are welcome to say Aunt Rebecca, if you pre- 
fer it,” said Miss Bristead stiffly, but greatly gratified 
by the request. 

“ I’d love to sit with you a great deal and have you 
teach me the things you’ve taught Beth,” Natalie went 
on, with her young girl simplicity and her dawning 
womanhood’s graciousness. “ Father thinks Beth has 
been beautifully brought up. We all decided last 
winter, when Beth talked about you, that, though you 
are so different, you and my mother were alike, after 
all. My mother is a true lady. Aunt Rebecca ; the 
loveliest, finest of fine ladies ! What made you say 
what you did just now? You look well and strong. 
Nothing is going to happen to you ! ” 

“ Some day, to me and to you, child,” said Aunt 
Rebecca. “ I’m not precisely well. But I’m not 
worrying. You’d better put that out of your mind,” 
said Aunt Rebecca placidly. “ However, I intend to 
get quite intimate with you, Natalie Cortlandt. I’ve 
got to know well some one of the people who will have 
Beth when I can’t have her. What are you going to 
do this afternoon ? I’ve got to go down to see what is 
happening to our dinner.” 


116 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Aunt Kebecca arose, carefully gathering up her 
skirt to keep some infinitesimal threads she had snipped 
into her lap from falling on the fioor. 

I^atalie arose, understanding that she was dismissed. 

“We’re going to teach the Chilton girls to dance,” 
she said. “ Beth began the day by putting butter on 
my feet, so I’d stay — like a cat, you know ! I feel as 
though I’d had more butter put on by you. Aunt 
Kebecca ! ” 

Aunt Rebecca smiled. 

“ Catch mice here, pussy, and you’re welcome to stay 
— if you stay purring,” she said. 


CHAPTEK YII 


THE BEISTEAD BRANCH 



IKK and Oliver Little wasted no time. They en- 


A J joyed every minute of every day, the elder boy 
finding the younger one after his own heart and replete 
with interesting stories of his wider experience, Dirk 
admiring mischievous, manly, clever Koll with all his 


might. 


“ I never knew a case more providential, for a little 
case, which ain’t more consequence,” declared Malvina 
Mellin. “ If I was to say what ’twas I was dreadin’, 
cornin’ here this season, ’twould of been a boy around 
the house, with no one matchin’ him up, so more’n 
likely under foot till you couldn’t hardly keep from 
steppin’ on him. But you don’t see Dirk half the time 
between meals, which is a strain off me, for one.” 

Katalie and Alys laughed. They were beginning to 
understand the sort of service which Chilton afforded, 
and that, though it would have been impertinent in 
their mother’s servants to speak to the children of the 
house without a prefix, it was a matter of course to 
Malvina and Ella Lowndes that they should be 
“ Katalie,” “ Alys ” and “ Dirk ” Cortlandt. 

“ I’d really like to know what they are doing, those 
two boys ! ” said Beth. “ They’re making something. 


117 


118 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Janie says they’re out in the barn, in I^oll’s workshop, 
all the time. I suppose we’ll know when it’s done. 
Do you think it will be much longer till wo hear from 
the prince ? ” 

Natalie gravely pulled her small watch out by its 
ribbon and consulted it. 

“ About three hours less than it was when you last 
asked that, Bethie,” she said. “ The time is drawing 
nearer.” 

Beth laughed and blushed. “ Waiting takes an 
awful time ! ” she said. “ Come up to Bristead’s 
Branch — that’s our river. I called it the Timlee to 
you, but its old name was the Branch, Bristead’s 
Branch ; I forget I changed it in honor of nice Tim.” 

“You funny Beth! But Tim is a dear thing; you 
know we love him.” Natalie gave Beth a pat as she 
passed her. “ I’ll come right back ; it’s my turn mak- 
ing the bed to-day and it isn’t done.” 

“ Seems queer to think of Natalie doing housework, 
but she declares she loves it.” Beth looked after her 
anxiously. 

“ Won’t hurt a mite,” said Malvina. “ I expect she 
does love it ; look at what folks spend to get a change ! 
Housework- is int’restin’, looked at right. It’s doin’ 
things that’s int’restin’ ; feelin’ you know how. Ain’t 
there a sayin’ that as you make your bed so you must 
lie in it ? Somethin’ like that ? There’d ought to be 
one that if you lie in your bed so you must make it — 
know how, ’tleast.” 

Beth laughed. Malvina was always amusing; her 


THE BEISTEAD BEANCH 


119 


great bulk, her comical face and her swarthy skin 
added to the effect. 

Beth followed Natalie up-stairs and found her dust- 
ing, while Alys set in order. 

“ You get acquainted with your home when you do 
things for it, don’t you?” Alys said as Beth waved 
her hand, going on to her own room for like tasks. 

“ It’s cozy and it’s friendly and it’s interesting to take 
care of a house and look after people, cook for them, 
make a real home for them,” added Natalie. “ I see 
why mother and father wanted us to come here ; I 
knew it was more than that they liked to keep Beth 
and us together, now we’d found her. I’m learning 
not only how, but why ! Things that can’t be learned 
by reading. I’m glad, more than glad, we’re here, 
Beth.” 

“ Yes,” Beth assented. “ I know ; glad for more 
than good times. It’s learning all around, seeing both 
sides of the road, not going along with blinders on. 
That was the best of my Wonder-Winter in New 
York ; it showed me your palace-side of the road. I’d 
never seen anything but this cottage-side. I’ve got to 
make my own bed.” She skipped on down the hall 
and presently Natalie and Alys heard her singing, in 
her peculiarly sweet voice, to a tune of her own im- 
promptu composition : 

^ A servant with this clause 
Makes drudgery divine ; 

Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws, 

Makes that and the action fine.’ ” 


120 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Natalie and Alys smiled at each other. This was 
the charm of quaint, sweet Beth. She was full of fine 
perceptions and her mind was stored with the best and 
most unexpected means of revealing them. Neither 
Natalie nor Alys knew that this stanza was beautiful 
old George Herbert’s, but they loved it at this first 
hearing. 

Suddenly the house was filled with a great noise, a 
crashing, rattling, thumping noise, compounded of a 
heavy body and several lesser ones, some of them 
metallic, falling, rolling, bumping. Natalie and Alys 
rushed out of their room as Beth flew from hers. 

“ What on earth ? ” gasped Alys, while Natalie 
merely looked the question, her hands on her chest, 
her face white. 

“ It’s Malvina Mellin tumbled down the cellar 
stairs ! ” cried Beth. “ Middy lies on them sometimes. 
Do you suppose she stepped on him ? If she did he’s 
crushed.” 

“ Middy ! What made you think of him ? ” Natalie 
asked, suddenly recovering her voice and beginning to 
laugh hysterically as the three ran down-stairs. Aunt 
Kebecca had gone to market. 

Beth’s ear had not deceived her.' The girls and Ella 
Lowndes, running into the house from the yard, where 
she had been hanging out dish towels, arrived at the 
same instant on the scene, though Ella ran down the 
outside cellar steps and the girls halted at the top of 
the inside flight. There, at their foot, lay Malvina in a 
shapeless mass, her broad face raised and her eyes rolL 


THE BEISTEAD BEANCH 


121 


ing tragically. Around her lay the inanimate things, 
which, nevertheless, had accompanied her with the 
liveliest animation — a tub, which had evidently been 
full of water, for Malvina lay in a damp mass, on a wet 
floor ; the ironing board ; a washboard ; a pail or two ; 
broken bottles and a tin tray. 

“ Oh, Malvina, are you hurt ? ” Beth implored her, 
trying not to laugh, for it surely was a funny sight. 

“ Did you fall, Malviny ? ” cried Ella Lowndes, not 
asking for information, but because she was so excited. 

“ No, Ella Lowndes, I didn’t fall, no,” said Malvina 
with sarcasm, rolling her eyes at Ella, which seemed to 
be the only movable fragment of her. “ I just flung 
myself down here to try whether the cement floor was 
solid or not, and I took along the pails and ironin’ 
board and all the rest of the junk in case I’d be lonely 
on the way. Did I fall ! You zany ! ” 

It was too much. Malvina could not be badly hurt 
if she were able to speak so cuttingly. Beth sat down 
on the upper step and laughed till she fell over side- 
wise, while Natalie and Alys went back into the dining- 
room and had hysterics, laughing and crying together. 

Malvina was infuriated. “ Elizabeth Bristead, any- 
body ’d think you whs feeble minded ! ” she said, her 
voice charged with wrath. “ Maybe it’s fun for you, 
but you wait till you fall down-stairs with a full wash- 
tub in your hands and set a-goin’ every last thing there 
is in the cellar way, a-crashin’ and a-smashin’ on top of 
you till you’d swear you was a marble, spilled out o’ 
the bag with the rest of ’em ! How you can set and 


122 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


laugh, a well-brought up child like you, when it’s your 
aunt’s cellar way I’ve gone down, whilst I was helpin’ 
her, and you don’t know whether I’m killed or not, I 
don’t see ! ” 

“ Oh, Malvina, I’m sorry truly ; I’m awfully sorry ! ” 
Beth protested, trying hard to make this truth sound 
true. “ Only you say such funny things ! And you — 

you just sit there ” She had to stop ; explanations 

were worse than useless. 

“ Sit here ! Lie here ! I don’t see but what I’m 
likely to ! For all me, when the angel Gabriel comes 
blowin’ his trumpet where my grave oughter of been, 
on the last day, somebody’ll have to tell him to blow 
for Malvina Mellin down the Bristead cellar. I ain’t 
ever goin’ to be able to get out myself,” said Malvina. 

Beth dropped her head on her arm again and shook 
with uncontrollable laughter. She heard sounds of 
strangulation in the dining-room and knew that Natalie 
and Alys were in convulsions of laughter there, trying 
not to let Malvina hear them, but wholly unable to 
silence all sounds. Ella Lowndes laughed a little her- 
self, but her sense of humor was never equal to her 
sense of responsibility and Malvina’s probable injury, her 
dampness, her difficult bulk filled Ella’s mind with 
anxiety. 

“ It’s all very well to laugh, Beth, but how do you 
s’pose we’re goin’ to get her up, if she can’t help her- 
self ? ” she asked, as if Malvina were not hearing. 

“ She hasn’t told us whether she is hurt or not,” 
Beth replied in the same key. 


THE BRISTEAD BRANCH 


123 


“ That’s so. Are you ? ” demanded Ella. 

“ Well, I’m not stayin’ here because I’m partic’ly en- 
joyin’ myself,” said Malvina, still with indignant sar- 
casm. “ Ear’s I know I’ve broke at least one of my 
legs.” 

Again Beth heard a stifled shriek from the dining- 
room, but this suggestion, though it did sound rather 
like a quadruped, frightened Beth. 

“ I’ll get the girls and we’ll pull her up,” she said. 

“ You can’t pull me up, Beth Bristead, when I can’t 
stand if I am up. There’s something all wrong with 
one of my legs ; it’s either the left or the right one,” 
Malvina insisted. 

Beth gave a little crow of laughter at this somewhat 
unnecessary speciflcation. 

“ Can’t you stand, really, Malvina ? How do you 
know if you haven’t tried ? ” she asked. 

“ Do you think every one on the field of battle has 
to git up to try to stand when their legs are blown 
off ? ” demanded Malvina. “ I’m hurt ; broke.” 

“ Oh, mercy ! If only Aunt Rebecca were home ! ” 
sighed Beth. “ What shall we do, Ella ? ” 

“ I hear wheels,” said Ella. “ Maybe there’s some- 
body cornin’ who’ll haul Malvina up and lay her 
down.” 

“ Oh, mercy ! ” sighed Beth again, too weak to laugh 
any more. “ I’ll go see.” 

She went into the dining-room, making all sorts of 
frantic signals to her cousins, who began to laugh anew 
the moment she entered. Beth opened the side door 


124 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


which led directly from the dining-room to the yard. 
There were Oliver Little and Dirk pulling an extra- 
ordinary sort of cart, their faces triumphant and mirth- 
ful. 

“ How’s that ? ” demanded Dirk, pointing backward 
with a sweep of his thumb over his shoulder. “ Some 
ambulance that ! We invented it and made it.” 

“ It looks exactly like the top of a woven wire cot, 
cut short and set on wheels ! ” Beth said slowly, won- 
dering. 

“ Great head, Elizabeth ! ” Noll approved her. 
“That’s precisely what it is. We’re going to fit it up 
with mattress and cushions — you girls come in on that 
— and give it to Miriam Gaines, haul her on it our- 
selves. Isn’t that about the biggest thing yet ? We 
got the wheels at the blacksmith shop, cheap ; they’re 
good ones. Greatest ever, h’m ? ” 

“ It’s splendid ! ” cried Beth with real enthusiasm, 
instantly foreseeing Miriam’s release from her one stuffy 
outlook. “ But, oh dear, Dirk, I ought not to look at 
it now ! Malvina Mellin’s fallen down the cellar stairs, 
with a tub of water and a whole hardware shop of 
things in the cellar way with her, and she says she has 
broken her leg, and Aunt Kebecca is out, and we can’t 
get her up to save our lives, and she says she couldn’t 
stand if she were up.” 

Dirk whistled. Oliver exclaimed : “ Gee whiz ! 
Say ! Some job to handle Malvina, the sylph ! Up 
to us to tackle it, Dirk, my son.” 

“ You couldn’t,” protested Beth. “ It would be worse 


THE BEISTEAD BEANCH 


125 


yet if you let her fall back. Go get some man — two 
men — to help.” 

“ Not a man ! ” said Noll. “ We’ll get one of those 
smooth planks Abbott left here when he fixed up 
Trump’s stall, lay it over the stairs, haul Malvina up it 
— and there you are — there she’d be, I mean.” 

“ Whoop-ee ! ” cried Dirk, dropping the rope of 
Miriam’s new “ambulance” and tearing off to the 
barn. “ Fun ? Say, Noll, what do you know about 
this ! ” 

“ Oh, aren’t boys the queerest things ! They just 
smack their lips over this ! ” cried Beth, as Noll fiew 
after Dirk, and she turned back to her cousins with re- 
lief and anxiety in her eyes. 

“ That wagon is a fine idea for Miriam,” said Natalie. 
“ Don’t worry about Malvina, Beth ; the boys won’t 
harm her and the injury can’t be serious.” 

Oliver and Dirk returned quickly with a long pine 
plank, as smooth as satin. 

“You could pull a tender infant up this board, 
dressed in its tenderest little thin dress, and it wouldn’t 
hurt either of ’em. Malvina will cry for more after we 
hitch a rope around her, under her arms, and pull her 
up this toboggan slide backward,” Noll announced. 

The boys slid the board down the steps and Ella 
Lowndes fetched a stout rope. 

“We’ll get the girls to hold on to Malvina on each 
side, in case the rope shouldn’t hold. The only danger, 
ladies, in this interesting experiment, is that the lady 
we are rescuing should overstrain the rope and slip 


126 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


back, kersmash ! ” Oliver elucidated, and Malvina 
groaned. 

By their united efforts, everybody taking hold of big 
Malvina where they could, they got her over and 
around, with her shoulders toward the end of the 
board. Then the rope was made fast around her and 
the rescuers went up the stairs and pulled, Beth and 
Alys staying at the foot of the stairs to keep Malvina 
straight on the board and her skirts free from possible 
entanglements. Anything more helpless than Malvina 
proved to be would be hard to imagine. 

“ It’s a shoot-the-chute after it has been shot,” 
panted Koll. “Hold on there, Ella, a minute. My 
breath has slipped down the board.” 

Though it was not easy, by degrees Malvina as- 
cended. 

“ You’d better pull me by my shoulders, before this 
rope cuts through ’em. It’s cuttin’ right up through 
my arm pits,” said that martyr. 

And Dirk compassionately exclaimed : “ Suffering 
salamanders ! I’ll bet it is ! ” 

So they let go of the rope and hoisted Malvina the 
rest of her upward journey by such portions of her 
rotund anatomy as they could grasp. 

“There!” gasped Natalie, staggering backward as, 
the last united tug over, Malvina lay on the kitchen 
floor. 

“ Malvina, we stand toward you as your parents : we 
have brought you up, or, as some people say : We have 
raised you,” said Noll mopping his brow. 


THE BEISTEAB BEANCH 


W 


“ What’s to be done with her, now she is up ? ” in- 
quired Dirk, looking at Malvina very much as Jonah 
might have turned and looked at the whale. 

“ I’d rather go to where I came from, to her I call 
my aunt, though she’s really a far-off cousin of my 
father’s, if I’m goin’ to be helpless,” said Malvina with 
considerate pathos. 

“ JSTo, indeed,” Natalie interposed. “ We’ll all help 
Ella, and look after you. It would be hard on that 
relative to have you laid up there, Malvina. There 
are lots of us to make things easy. Aren’t we to send 
for a doctor and find out what has happened to Mal- 
vina, Beth ? ” 

“ Of course. Dirk and Noll, would you go ? ” asked 
Beth. 

“ And get dry skirts on her,” suggested Ella Lowndes. 
“ ’Tain’t a break, Malviny, or you’d mind it more. It’s 
a sprain, if anything.” 

‘‘ Takes longer’n a break to heal,” groaned Malvina, 
who, though cheerfully competent about work, was a 
solid lump of discouragement when it came to bodily 
ills. 

The boys decamped, but before they went, by the 
aid of the plank, they got Malvina on the couch, and, 
under Ella’s direction, it was not long before the girls 
divested her of her wet skirts and clothed her in dry 
ones. 

Aunt Eebecca came hurriedly up the walk, her face 
white, her step uncertain. When she came in and Beth 
ran to meet her, she put her arm around the little girl 


128 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


and drew her close, almost fiercely. Then, as she saw 
Malvina propped up in the honorable place of invalid. 
Aunt Rebecca sat down suddenly on a chair near the 
door and put her hand to her side. 

“ I met Mr. Ranney and he told me that Noll and 
Dirk had run down street for a doctor. It gave me a 
turn,” said Aunt Rebecca. 

She seemed so much more affected than was likely in 
the case of one so strong and self-contained that Natalie’s 
thought reverted to what Miss Bristead had said of be- 
ing less well than usual ; she wondered if it were so. 

“ I’d advise you to clear up the debbriss, if I’m to use 
such a word, at the foot of the stair, Ella Lowndes,” 
suggested Malvina. “ What with glass and tin and 
wood and water there’s a mess, which is English for 
the French debbriss.” 

The doctor came and pronounced Malvina’s injury to 
be a severe strain of her side and a sprained ankle. 
Her remaining at Aunt Rebecca’s, or going back to 
her scarcely related relative, was discussed and kindly 
settled by Aunt Rebecca. Malvina was to stay where 
she was. 

“ We’ll help with the housework ; it’s good for us and 
new to us ! ” cried Natalie. 

“ Maybe it’s choosing the right, as our Order makes 
us, because you can’t like it,” suggested Beth, touching 
the prince’s ring. 

“ I can help in all sitting w^ys, like peas and pota- 
toes,” said Malvina pensively. 

“ And prunes and prisms,” added Beth involuntarily. 


THE BEISTEAD BEANCH 


129 


‘‘ That’s in Little Dorrit ; Mrs. General told the girls to 
say ‘ Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prisms ’ be- 
fore going into a room, to give their lips a pretty 
shape, Malvina.” 

“ I don’t knovT your little Dorrit, and I’ve no sort of 
idea what general’s wife you’re talkin’ about, but I 
could work on poultry, for I could pick pin feathers 
settin’ just as well as standin’,” said Malvina with 
dignity. 

“We’ve had such a thrilling morning, with the ac- 
cident, that we ought to take the wagon to Miriam this 
afternoon. We must find something for her to lie on 
till the mattress is ready. Come up attic and see what 
there is,” Beth said to her cousins. 

They found some discarded pillows, feather ones, not 
the fullest, but good enough for a wagon, and a crib 
mattress that had once been used by a Bristead baby. 
There was hardly a chance that one would fail to find 
something that would answer for any purpose demand- 
ing it in that old Bristead attic. It was kept in per- 
fect order, but little was ever thrown away of its ac- 
cumulations. 

“ It is the boys’ invention and gift, but we want to 
see what Miriam will do when she sees it,” Beth apolo- 
gized for their all going to present the wagon. 

“ Well, you might think we hadn’t planned all along 
you’d go with us ! ” exclaimed Noll, so heartily that 
Beth was both surprised and gratified. “ And one of 
you must tell Miriam about the ambulance ; we won’t,” 
Oliver added. 


130 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


‘‘We oughtn’t call it an ambulance, sounds so forlorn. 
Let’s call it the chariot,” said Alys. “ Can’t Miriam be 
cured, Beth ? I forget what you said about it.” 

“ She was all right for the first three years of her 
life, then she had scarlet fever. She can’t be cured, no. 
It’s her spine. But the doctor thinks she might walk 
— on crutches — if she could have some kind of a shock 
to start her. She’s afraid to try,” Beth answered. 
“ We’ll leave the chariot at the door, shan’t we ? ” 

“ Considering we couldn’t get it into the house, 
maybe we’d better,” Dirk replied. 

When the five young people had greeted Miriam an 
awkward silence fell upon them. No one knew how to 
announce to her that they had come to take her out. 

Mrs. Gaines helped them. “ What’s that queer 
lookin’, preambulatin’ equipped edge you’ve got out- 
side ? ” she asked, suspicious. 

“ It is equipped — with mattress and pillows, so that’s 
a good name for it ! ” Noll said, losing self-conscious- 
ness in a laugh at an equipage being transformed into 
an “ equipped edge.” “ Dirk and I rigged up a car for 
you, Miriam. Come on out ; we’re going to take you 
driving.” 

Miriam’s thin face flushed, her bright, restless eyes 
gleamed feverishly ; she raised herself on her arm. 

“ I knew it ! I knew something was going to 
happen ! Look ! I had ma put on my pink dancing 
dress ! Out ! Me out ! Tell me : could you ? ” she 
cried. 

Beth remembered that it was said that this crippled 


THE BEISTEAD BEANCH 


131 


girl had senses which divined events before they came 
to pass, that her long isolated suffering had given her 
something like the gift of prophecy. 

“ They can, Miriam,” Beth said gently. “ They are 
going to. The wagon is a cot bed, out short and set on 
wheels. There’s a comfortable mattress on it and pil- 
lows. We’re all going up back of our house to see the 
Timlee Kiver — Bristead’s Branch — you and all of us. 
You’ll be carried out and pulled along so carefully it 

won’t jar Oh, Miriam, don’t ! Though it’s nice 

to cry for joy ! ” 

The crippled girl had dropped her head and thrown 
herself face downward into her pillow ; she was shak- 
ing with sobs. 

“ I guess you’d — too — if you hadn’t been out since 
you were a baby ! ” she justified herself. 

Her mother, scarcely less moved than Miriam, 
brought a knit shawl to wrap around her. 

“ It’s pretty warm out, but she might feel it,” she 
said. 

Miriam was a light burden. Oliver and her mother, 
with Natalie and Dirk’s help, easily raised her, without 
hurting her, and carried her out to the chariot. She 
settled on its mattress easily, but the pinched little 
“ squirrel face ” was ghastly white, and the big eyes 
were burning. 

‘‘ We’ll go right along and not say anything to her ; 
just talk together at first,” Beth whispered and Natalie 
approved. 

With a caution that was so considerate Beth began 


132 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


to wonder if she had ever seen the boy before, Oliver 
Little gave the chariot its start, and Dirk joined him at 
the rope. 

The girls tried to talk naturally, but it was not easy. 
Gradually they gave up the attempt and silently fol- 
lowed in the chariot’s wake, the rear guard of Miriam’s 
triumphal procession into the world she had lost. They 
proved useful in intercepting questioners, falling back 
to answer them and allow the chariot to proceed in 
peace. It was not possible for this procession to fail to 
arouse Chilton’s interest and curiosity. 

Miriam lay silently staring up into the infinitely blue 
sky of June, through the arching branches of old Chil- 
ton’s glorious elms. The painful joy of her going was 
giving way to profound, yet peaceful, ecstasy. The 
fear of being jarred died away as the boys slowly pro- 
ceeded, avoiding every protruding stone, every rise 
where the elm roots had forced up the pavement. 
Gradually it was sinking into the poor child’s mind 
that she, crippled little Miriam, was once more out in 
the sunshine, under the leaves, the sky, the sweet air 
of June. The joy was so deep, so unspeakable that she 
sank down into it, lost in its immensity. 

“ It’s like dying,” she said at last, so low that Beth, 
closest behind her, had to stoop to catch what she said. 
“ Didn’t Elijah go to heaven in a fiery chariot ? This 
isn’t fiery, but that’s nothing.” 

There was a shout of laughter from Miriam’s escorts 
when Beth repeated what she said. 

“ Koundabout way of calling us angels,” Oliver sug- 


THE BEISTEAD BEANCH 


133 


gested. “ Needn’t mind saying it right out, as far as 
we are concerned, Miriam ; we know it.” 

The chariot turned into the unused road which had 
once been the highway to the old mill that now stood 
only as a monument to the long-dead Isaiah Bristead’s 
kindness to his foe. The road was softly grass-grown 
and mountain laurel leaned out over sweet fern which, 
with the bayberry, made fragrant the way. The char- 
iot did not jar Miriam, though the road was now traveled 
only by wanderers afoot and was uneven, but the thick 
grass and the frequent patches of pine needles filled the 
hollows and gave extra springiness to the chariot’s 
springs. The slender spur of the river, the Branch, 
babbled along happily through the quiet spot, a brown 
and green limpid reflector of its beauty. 

“ Could you run the wheels into the water ? ” asked 
Miriam. 

The boys backed her into the stream ; blissfully she 
leaned slightly and dabbled her fingers in the water. 

“ This is Bristead’s Branch,” she murmured dreamily. 
“ It is Beth Bristead’s Chance.” 

“ Why, Miriam ? ” asked Beth, wondering. 

Miriam looked up with a start. “ Why, what ? I 
don’t know what I said. I know I said something. 
Often it happens like that, something says itself by my 
tongue, but I don’t say it.” 

“ Say, no funny, spooky business, if you want me to 
haul your chariot ! ” cried Dirk, objecting seriously to 
anything of a mysterious nature. 

But Natalie and Alys were fascinated and greatly 


134 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


enjoyed the thrill of Miriam’s prophetic sounding 
words. 

Suddenly Miriam fell over on her back, her face 
rapturously turned upward to the beauty above her 
and to the bird song in the swaying limbs. She 
stretched out her arms wide, her hands turned palm 
uppermost. 

“ I’ve been in the house all my life, ’cept when I was 
a baby, and now I’m here ! I’m here, right in the 
middle of it! Oh, please God, just see how I’m 
thankful ! ” 

Oliver and Dirk were painfully embarrassed by this 
speech and all three girls caught their breath in a sob. 
But in the bottom of their hearts the boys felt that 
they were more than repaid for their work on the 
chariot. 


CHAPTER VIII 


“OYEZ! OYEZ! OYEZ!” 

I F Beth had not been too occupied to think about it 
she would have wondered to see that Aunt Rebecca 
withdrew as much as possible from ordering her own 
household and allowed the four young members of 
it to meet the disarrangement caused by Malvina’s 
temporary dropping out mostly as they pleased. For 
Aunt Rebecca never had been known to allow the 
smallest detail of her efficient management to fall into 
other hands, however competent. 

Natalie and Alys, even Alys ! — divided daily tasks 
with Beth, supplying the lack of Malvina, at first with 
more zeal than skill, but improving daily in the latter, 
while not relaxing the former. They swept and dusted 
and set in order, singing over the new form of gym- 
nastics and greatly enjoying the sense of competency 
it gave them. 

“ Queer how different it is to do things, make things, 
I mean, intended to be eaten, and fussing in a cooking 
school ! ” observed Natalie one day to Ella Lowndes. 
Her pretty hands were covered with flour and she was 
busily kneading rusks which Ella had taught her to 
make. “ Mother sent us to a cooking class winter be- 
fore last. Mother thinks a woman will be a better 
135 


136 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


housekeeper, even if she is never obliged to do her own 
housework, if she understands it. But making things 
in class was not the least bit in the world like this ! 
This is ever so much more interesting and what I do 
seems to stick to me. I feel as though I really learned 
about work. It didn’t mean anything in class.” 

“ What you’re doin’ now will stick to you, JS’at’lie, 
if you don’t flour your hands more ; you’re gettin’ your 
dough all over ’em ! ” said Ella Lowndes. “ I expect 
it’s a good deal the way you feel about it. But of 
course there’s bound to be an awful difference between 
pitchin’ in, and takin’ up pieces in silver sugar tongs — 
I mean pieces of work and life itself ; I’m speakin’ in a 
flgure. The’ry and practice is two things, and bound 
to be, from churnin’ to church-goin’. What you like 
about this is the feelin’ that it’s real. You’re an 
honest-natured girl, hTat’lie, and you enjoy gettin’ 
down to rock bottom. It’s goin’ to make a difference 
in you always havin’ been here and seein’ how folks 
live who are real gentry, yet don’t have any extra 
money. I dare say you went to that cookin’ school 
quite fixed up, with insincere aprons over your clothes ? 
You can cut those rusks out into rounds with the 
biscuit cutter, or you can cut ’em into strips and 
let ’em turn out long and slender, whichever you’d 
ruther.” 

“ Both ! ” triumphed Natalie with a laugh. “ Some 
round, some long, just to dodge monotony, Ella. We 
did go to cooking school with rather pretty frocks on 
and our caps and aprons were ’cute enough for a light 


'' OYEZ ! OYEZ ! OYEZ ! ” 


137 


opera chorus. We had to be dressed decently, be- 
cause, after the lesson, we had a perfectly scrumptious 
luncheon and sat down to it, after we’d taken off our 
uniforms. None of the girls took it seriously, the work 
part of it. We took our luncheons earnestly, if not 
seriously ! ” 

“ There you are ! ” cried Ella. “ I knew it ! I don’t 
see how girls can learn much that way ; maybe some 
chafer dish messes. Nat ’lie, I’d admire to see a chafer 
dish ! You see ’em alluded to so often in woman’s 
columns and in those long, hard-to-hold magazines Miss 
Tappan brings to show you the latest fashions they’re 
wearin’ — ’n nine times out of ten you wish you hadn’t 
seen ’em ! ” 

“ Why, Ella, you shall have one. I’ll send for one ! ” 
cried Natalie. “ And alcohol ! I know how to make 
some lovely chafing-dish messes.” 

“ Oh, you no need to go to such extremes as sendin’ 
for one, Nat’lie,” said the gratified Ella. “ Though 
I’d admire to see one, and I guess belongin’ to the 
W. C. T. U. don’t forbid hurnin^ alcohol. What do 
you s’pose Beth thinks she is now ? Here she’s cornin’. 
She’s the greatest child I ever knew in all my life for 
pretendin’ she’s ancient characters, or in story books.” 

Beth appeared around the corner. She wore a table 
cover as a cloak, hung from her shoulders, and a big- 
brimmed soft hat, with a long, draggled old plume on 
one side, and she held a tin horn to her lips, though it 
did not sound. She marched upon the kitchen and 
Natalie with impressive strides, and when she got 


138 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


within hearing distance she began to call, still without 
lowering the horn : 

“ Oyez ! Oyez ! Oyez ! Make way for the royal 
messenger ! ” 

“ Oh, gracious ! She’s heard from the prince ! ” 
cried Natalie, darting to the door. “The prince, 
Beth?” 

“ Oyez ! Oyez ! Oyez ! A message from His Koyal 
Highness of England ! Make way for the Koyal 
Herald ! ” Beth called, looking through Natalie and 
beyond her as if she were invisible. 

“ For pity’s sake, stop acting like Haigha and Hatta 
in Looking Glass Land, and be a real messenger that 
delivers messages ! ” Natalie protested. “ If you say 
Oyez once more I’ll shake you, Elizabeth Bristead ! 
What did the prince say ? ” 

“ Well, I may look like the Anglo-Saxon messengers 
— in fact I meant to — but I don’t skim the cream and 
give you blue milk, Miss Cortlandt ! ” retorted Beth. 
“ Do you suppose I opened the prince’s letter ? We’ll 
all open it together. Here it is, and a package be- 
sides.” Beth held up a square envelope, sealed with a 
signet ring, and a package securely tied and similarly 
sealed. 

“ I suppose I must finish these rusks. They’re only 
to be cut and put in pans for a third rising. Where are 
Alys and Dirk ? We must wait for them, anyway,” 
and Natalie went back to the table and began to cut out 
rusks as if the final k. were an h. 

“ Dirk had gone to Oliver Little’s. Alys brought up 


OYEZ ! OYEZ ! OYE2 ! ” 


139 


the mail and she’s gone on to tell him to come home 
and Janie with him, Noll, too, if he wants to. We 
thought Janie’d like to hear the prince’s letter as well 
as we would,” said Beth. 

“ Of course. I ought to be able to get these done by 
the time they come.” Natalie bent over her board and 
cut with concentrated energy. 

“ You know I’d finish ’em, if you say the word,” sug- 
gested Ella Lowndes. 

“ Couldn’t say it,” Natalie answered. “ Wouldn’t 
know what the word was to say ; I’m afraid it would 
sound like shirk, though ! ” 

Beth knew better than to offer to help, though she 
longed to. She stood, first on one foot and then on the 
other, turning and fingering the impressive package and 
letter, hardly able to wait to open them, speculating, 
with delightful hopelessness of guessing, on what the 
prince might have said and how he said it. She saw in 
imagination again his bright, wholesome, kind young 
face, with its frank eyes, and she heard his merry laugh. 
It really had been a great adventure to have known a 
real prince, but how much it added to the adventure to 
have found him a lovable, generous, fine young fellow 
in himself ! 

“ There are Alys and Dirk, with both the Littles, and 
I’m just through ! ” cried Natalie, hastily standing her 
rolling board and pin in the sink and putting her 
measuring cup, her spoon and biscuit cutter into the 
mixing bowl. ‘‘I’d play fair and wash my own utensils, 
Ella, but really, this one time I don’t see how I can ! ” 


140 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


she said apologetically. “For one thing, it would 
probably kill me to wait another minute and, for an- 
other, it really isn’t polite to keep a prince waiting for 
a rolling pin and a yellow bowl to receive attention 
first ! ” 

“ I suppose that’s so,” admitted Ella. “ Even if we 
don’t care about titles here, it ain’t the thing to let him 
think Americans haven’t manners. But you know, 
Hat’lie, I’d always rather clear up after you. I’d al- 
ways after Beth when she bakes, but her aunt won’t let 
me ; she’s afraid of Beth being spoiled. Kun right 
along. I’d be glad if you’d let me have a look at the 
prince’s writin’ later on ; I guess it’ll be the only chance 
I’ll have to see whether one of the royal family uses 
lines, or plain unruled paper.” 

The three Cortlandts, the two Littles and Beth sat 
down to listen to the reading of the prince’s letter, the 
four girls quite tremulous with excitement, Dirk eager 
and glad in the prospect of hearing from the young 
prince who had bidden the children call him “ Cousin 
Hal.” Dirk liked him with honest, boyish liking of the 
sort he had given Bob Leonard, his tutor, whom he 
worshipped and like whom he insisted the prince was. 
Oliver’s air was incredulous ; apparently he neither be- 
lieved in a real letter, from a real prince, nor that he 
was there to listen to it. 

Beth jumped up again, after they were all seated. 
“Just wait a minute till I wash my hands,” she said, 
hurrying away. 

The others laughed at this lavatory ceremonial before 


OYEZ ! OYEZ ! OYEZ ! 


141 


the opening of the revered letter, which was addressed 
to Beth, so fell to her share to read. 

“ Now ! ” breathed Beth with a long, indrawn gasp, 
as she took up the letter and slit the envelope all the 
way along the top, neatly, with no jagged edges. 

It was written on heavy paper, dated London, and it 
began : 

“ Dear little American Cousin Beth and Cortlandt 
Cousins Three.” 

‘‘ Isn’t that dear ! ” sighed Alys. “ You know, Janie, 
we didn’t know how to talk to him, what to call him 
the day we went riding with him, and he said as we 
spoke of our ‘ English cousins ’ — any English, you know 
— we must call him Cousin Hal, because we were to be 
perfectly free that day. So that’s what we called him 
and what he means now.” 

“ Beth told me,” said Janie, speaking softly as if she 
were in church and might disturb the service. 

“ Cousins Three,” Beth resumed. “ Your more than 
welcome letter got sent down to the country after me 
— I had stolen away for a few days, though this is our 
London season — and by arriving on the day I came up, 
missed me and had to be forwarded to London. A 
regular hare-and-hounds game we played, your letter 
and I, with me as the hare. But it ran me down to 
cover when it ran me up to London, and here it caught 
me. It was a regular top notcher of a letter, little 
American cousins, and it gave your Cousin Hal no end 
of pleasure. First of all that young man likes tremen- 
dously to know that he is remembered affectionately by 


142 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


you. What is it the Bible says about love ? That many 
waters cannot quench it ? I am glad that all the waters 
of the ocean between us have not washed away your 
liking for me. 

“ I can fancy I see that little cripple girl lying for- 
ever in a small house, with few pleasures and no luxu- 
ries. I rather think she may join our Order of the 
Strong of Heart! It doesn’t take much strength of 
heart merely to choose to do something we’d rather not 
do, compared to the strength it takes to have no chance 
to choose, to endure such a life as hers, quite hopelessly, 
and not become embittered, nor discouraged. I hereby 
invest her with the Order of the Strong of Heart. 
Miriam Gaines is from the moment you carry her this 
investiture a knight in the highest ranks of the Order. 
I have cabled over to the firm who made your rings 
and told them to send one to you for Miriam. It 
should reach you about the time this letter does.” 

“ There is a little package for me from New York. 
I never thought about it, I was so interested in this,” 
said Beth. “ On the dining-room mantelpiece ; do you 
mind, Dirk ? ” 

“ Getting it ? Not much,” said Dirk, and returned 
with the small package, sent by insured parcel post. 
When they opened it a ring like those worn by the 
other members was revealed, a sapphire set in a design 
of carved links. The prince had told them, when they 
received theirs, that it was a symbol of the dependence 
of all human beings upon one another. 

Janie looked at it wistfully and tried it on. I 


OYEZ ! OYEZ ! OYEZ ! 


143 


think it will exactly fit her,” she said. “ I made her a 
ring once. Miriam will just about die of joy. She’d 
be crazy over the ring, even if it hadn’t any order back 
of it ; anybody would be.” 

Beth looked troubled. It had not occurred to her 
till that moment that Janie would have liked beyond 
words to join the Order, but of course she would ! 

“ Oh, dear ! ” sighed Beth aloud. “ Maybe some day 
the prince will let a good many, or some people join 
the Order. I never thought of asking him about any 
one but Miriam, because she’s sort of born in it.” 

“ Nicer to keep it little,” said unobservant Dirk. 

“ I guess Beth was thinking of it’s being Little — not 
join little, but Jane Little, eh, Beth ? ” laughed Oliver. 

“Well, why don’t you go on with that letter?” 
cried Alys. 

“ I have told my nephews and nieces all about you 
four American children, just as I said I should, espe- 
cially how keen you are, Beth, about English history 
and our great poets and all that. They may have been 
properly ashamed of themselves, but it did not show. 
‘ She probably likes it because she doesn’t have to,’ 
that’s what the king’s little boy said. Then he added 
that you ‘ didn’t have some one all the time bidding 
you study English history that you might grow up 
worthy to follow the brave example of your ancestors ; 
it was all very well for an American.’ I mention this 
to show you that though Shakespeare said that ‘ there 
is a divinity that doth hedge a king,’ a king’s son is 
quite like other small boys, like your own Dirk, dread- 


144 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


fully bored by lessons and quite wishing he were well 
rid of them. These children, my relatives, at my re- 
quest, have sent you their photographs, singly and in 
groups, each signed by the name of its original. The 
Princess Koyal was wonderfully interested in Miss 
Natalie Cortlandt, her sister Alys, and sweet Beth, and 
wrote messages on the back of her photograph for each 
of the girls. These photographs are going by post in 
a packet, separate from this letter. 

“ Now, my young American cousins, keep right on 
remembering me till that happy day when you will 
come over to see London — like Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, 
where have you been, in the nursery rhyme, don’t you 
know, and I shall see you again. I am a busy man in 
these days of functions and all that, but I am quite 
well, thank you, with the same excellent appetite I had 
the day we rode and I was made acquainted with a de- 
licious, crumbling, buttery sort of chocolate square 
which Beth made and which was new to me. The 
name escapes me, but I fancy it was something like 
Nudge — I’m positive it wasn’t Grudge ! Good-bye, 
my dears. That’s a fine old ‘ portmanteau word ’ of 
ours, for it means : God be with you ! which is a satis- 
factory farewell, saying precisely what I would say. 
Affectionate greetings to you all, from 

“ Your ‘ Cousin Hal.’ 

“ I forgot to tell you that I had the pleasure of see- 
ing Mr. and Mrs. Cortlandt before they went over to 
France.” 


OYEZ ! OYEZ ! OYEZ ! 


145 


“ Isn’t he great ! ” cried Alys, rosy with pleasure and 
emotion over this unaffected, frank letter. 

“ He’s wonderful ! ” Natalie declared. “ No one 
could help admiring him, prince or not.” 

“ He’s about as near all right as they come. He’s it. 
He’s the Prince of Itness ! ” Dirk cried, with an inspi- 
ration. “ I always said he was something like Bob 
Leonard, and you can’t beat him.” 

“ I love him,” said Beth with a sort of exalted en- 
thusiasm. “ He’s just as real and just as kind, and just 
as ” 

“ Just ! ” Noll Little interrupted her. “ Keep your 
saddle, Beth ! But I’d think myself that chap’s regi- 
ment would go pretty much wherever he led ’em — like 
the Charge of the Light Brigade, or places of that sort.” 

“ To think he’s a real, real prince ! ” murmured awe- 
struck Janie. “ If I can’t belong to his Order I can 
sort of pretend I’m one of his subjects.” 

“ A subject in English composition ? ” queried Noll 
thoughtfully, but he smiled kindly at his deeply im- 
pressed younger sister. 

“ How shall we invest Miriam with the Order ? ” 
asked Beth. “We ought to get up some kind of a 
ceremony.” 

“ And have her wear the pink dress you sent her,” 
added Janie. 

“ Why not take her somewhere ? It would be more 
to her than if we all went there ; she’s lain in that 
same room so long,” suggested Natalie. 

“ Trim up the chariot and wear costumes and have 


146 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


it impressive ! ” cried Beth, always eager to bring the 
picturesque into humdrum daily life. 

“ Or oppressive, maybe,” Oliver amended. “ You 
don’t catch me parading with a decorated chariot and 
a lot of freaks on behind — as if I were a circus horse.” 

“ Same here,” Dirk chimed in. “ Let’s have a sane 
and safe celebration. It’ll be a good example for the 
Fourth ; it’s almost here.” 

“Why not bring Miriam here? We could darken 
the room and burn candles and do all sorts of things in 
the house here, where nobody could see,” Natalie sug- 
gested. 

“And Miriam never was here — of course. I believe 
she’d like that a lot,” added Beth. “ Come and get 
things out of the attic to drape the couch with and to 
wear ourselves. Then we must arrange a programme. 
Let’s have it to-morrow.” 

There was a busy afternoon of preparations, followed 
by a forenoon not less busy. It was decided that Janie, 
Edith, May, Kuth, Nellie and Daisy were to be escorts 
of the candidate for honor, but that Beth, Natalie and 
Alys must stay at home, for they were to enact the 
King’s Ambassador and his attendants — only in this 
case the ambassador was an Ambassadress ! 

A throne chair had been placed at one end of the 
darkened drawing-room. It was draped with heavy 
crimson damask which had once been a curtain, but 
this fact was to be ignored by the august assemblage. 
The drawing-room of the old Bristead house was large, 
running the depth of one side of the house. It had 


'' OYEZ ! OYEZ ! OYEZ ! ’’ 


147 


been a fine room in its day, and, though that day had 
long set, it still possessed the dignity of correct pro- 
portions, and its furniture — iii the dim, excluded light 
— was handsome. 

Natalie and Alys had bought dozens of non-dripping 
candles. All the candlesticks in the house — and there 
were many — were not enough to hold the candles which 
the girls wanted to use. 

“ We’ll turn it into a hall of dazzling light,” said 
Beth. “ That’s the kind of hall they always have for a 
great court ceremony.” 

The deficiency in candlesticks was made up by po- 
tatoes, hollowed to hold a candle, and gilded. The 
effect was quite unexpectedly good. 

“ I think they look almost exactly like an Arts-and- 
Crafts candlestick,” said Alys, surveying them with 
profound satisfaction, her head on one side, and a long 
streak of gilt on her cheek. “ They always are kind of 
rough hewn, queer shaped things. The potato looks 
like an old gold article, made by some aboriginal race.” 

“ I suppose a potato is as old as an aborigine,” said 
Beth. “ They probably were growing before they were 
eaten.” 

“ Safe guess, Cozbeth ; I doubt they grew much after 
they were eaten,” said Natalie. 

“ Before — oh, you know what I meant ! ” Beth 
checked herself as Natalie laughed. “ They look more 
like candlesticks used by gnomes to me.” 

“ Well, we like them, so what’s the use of deciding 
their family history ? ” cried Alys. “ When we get 


148 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


all these candles lighted we won’t have a sigh left for 
electricity.” 

“ Hurry and set them around and get dressed,” said 
Beth, discovering that moment that there was no time 
to lose. 

Aunt Kebecca had been especially invited to the 
ceremony, but Ella Lowndes was also to see it and 
Malvina planned to “ hitch ” her chair to the door and 
peep in as well as she could and not let in too much 
natural light to impair the candle-light. Aunt Kebecca 
refused to put on her best gown, but Beth coaxed her 
to wear a high comb, which she found in an attic chest, 
and a lace shawl which gave her, so Beth believed, 
more nearly the effect of a court costume than her un- 
adorned gray mohair gown could. 

“ Oh, Alys, they’re coming, they’re coming ! ” cried 
Beth in a flutter. “ Natalie, begin to play ! Ella, 
won’t you help Alys and me light these candles ? 
We’ll never get them all burning in time ! ” 

Ella took a long spill — she had thoughtfully made 
several, for she disapproved of the reckless use of 
matches which lighting so many candles would entail, 
and began systematically on one side of the room. 
Natalie began to play to satisfy Beth, though the ap- 
proaching procession was not within hearing. By the 
time it reached the gate five dozen candles were burn- 
ing steadily and Natalie was playing with equal bril- 
liance the Priests’ March from Athalie. The room 
really looked as if it had returned to its old, best es- 
tate ; the candles threw soft black shadows, while il- 


OYEZ ! OYEZ ! OYEZ ! 


149 


luminating it, and the furniture, noble in design if 
shabby in covering, was revealed at its best in the light 
of the period for which it had been made. 

The boys drew the chariot — they had gratified the 
girls to the extent of conceding a flag at its foot — close 
to the steps. They and the attending girls lifted the 
mattress which Natalie and Alys had bought for the 
chariot, a litter-like contrivance with handles, and bore 
Miriam into the house. She wore the famous pink 
dancing gown. Her face was so white from excite- 
ment that Aunt Eebecca feared the game might not be 
good for her. 

Beth was seated on the chair of state when Miriam 
was brought in. Beside her stood Alys ; Beth wore a 
robe of red that flowed about her in such wise that it 
might have been considered too large, but was intended 
to be considered merely as flowing. Alys wore white, 
with a long train. Natalie, who left the piano when 
Edith came to take her place and joined the ambassa- 
dorial group, wore a really beautiful old gown of yel- 
low silk that fitted her fairly well. 

Miriam, laid upon the couch, its draperies falling to 
the floor in splendor, turned to the throne as Beth arose. 
Beth had wanted to begin her address with her formal : 
“ Oyez,” thrice repeated, but gave up the idea, realizing 
that an ambassador must not employ the herald’s cry. 

“ Most noble lords and ladies, and you, Miriam 
Gaines, favored by His Majesty and his son, the well- 
beloved prince of England, know that I, unworthy 
though I be, am selected by the crown to confer upon 


150 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


the noble Lady Miriam, of the House of Gaines, letters 
patent and the lofty Order of the Strong of Heart.” 
Beth paused, wondering what “ letters patent ” might 
mean. She had used the words because they came to 
her out of her constant reading of historical romance ; 
she devoutly hoped they were appropriate. 

“ Hear, hear ! ” exclaimed Malvina Mellin through 
the crack of the door, in a sepulchral voice. 

Beth frowned. It worried her to have a discordant 
note in her cermony. 

“ Therefore will I now confer upon the Lady Miriam 
the Order, by virtue of the authority of the prince, my 
revered master.” 

Beth drew a long breath as she descended the step 
that elevated her above the others ; she felt that this 
last sentence sounded as it should. She went slowly 
across the room to Miriam, Natalie and Alys following 
and bearing her train. With a wand which she carried 
Beth struck Miriam lightly on her shoulder. 

“ Deceive the Order of the Strong of Heart,” she 
said. “ Deceive it from the prince whose unworthy am- 
bassador I am.” 

(“Hold out your left hand,”) she whispered. 
Miriam obeyed, almost overcome by this solemn play- 
ing. 

“Deceive also the insignia of your rank and our 
noble Order. Deceive it also from the prince, our 
liege lord, who desires to honor you.” With this lofty 
utterance Beth pushed the carved ring, badge of the 
Order, upon Miriam’s finger. The blue of its sapphire 


“ OYEZ ! OYEZ ! OYEZ ! 


151 


gleamed like a blossom of the Glory of tlje Snow on the 
pallor of her thin hand. 

Miriam trembled so violently that Aunt Eebecca 
came to the rescue. Perhaps she understood that the 
hardest part of this sort of playing is to get back into 
ordinary life without feeling that everything has been 
a flat failure. 

“ What do they eat after a royal function ? When 
an ambassador is entertained ? ” she asked. “ Ella 
Lowndes has lemonade and cake for us, and Miriam is 
to take this glass of my dandelion wine.” 

She went over to Miriam with a curious old decanter 
in one hand, and a glass in the other, and poured out 
the pale liquid, cloudy with the pollen of the golden dan- 
delions which one May day past had yielded themselves 
to make the beverage. 

“ Let’s set all the candles in rows and see who can 
blow out the most in, say, two minutes,” suggested 
Natalie. “We must all stand perfectly still and blow 
from our own place.” 

“ If we blow from our place shall we stand still ? ” 
inquired Oliver Little blandly. 

The game was a success. Nothing could have been 
devised better for happily restoring the commonplace. 
When the candles were all out and the daylight let into 
the room everybody was breathless, but jolly, and 
Miriam was laughing with the others, a bright color 
suffusing her pinched cheeks. 

Just before she was taken home Miriam looked up at 
Beth with adoring eyes. “ It’s awful, it’s so great ! ” 


152 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


she murmured, touching her ring. “ I’m too glad to 
stand it. But how can I ever do things for it ? ” 

Beth looked down on Miriam, older than she was a 
trifle, but so small, so pale and pinched, so uncomplain- 
ing, yet so hopeless. In a flash the right word came to 
her. She bent and kissed Miriam. 

“ You are it ; you don’t have to do things. You are 
the strong hearted ! You’ll be it, Miriam, while we can 
only do,” she said. 


CHAPTEK IX 


THE MONTH OF THE LION 

** T SN’T it a great deal hotter than usual this July ? ” 

X asked Alys, pausing in the middle of a sort of 
Chinese tune she was playing on the piano keys, wiping 
them with a damp cloth. 

“ I’ve long noticed that it usually was hotter than 
usual,” said Aunt Kebecca. “ Each year. People for- 
get weather, same as they forget other past favors. I’ve 
also noticed that seasons average pretty closely ; of 
course there comes one occasionally that overleaps, one 
way or the other. To-day is about like other July days 
when the thermometer stands at eighty-six at ten 
o’clock in the morning.” 

“ What do you suppose it wiU be at three ? ” groaned 
Alys. 

Dropped twenty degrees in a thunder-storm, with 
hail, maybe,” said Aunt Kebecca cheerfully. “ There’s 
no limit to weather’s hurdle leaping. Don’t get into 
the way of feeling the mid-afternoon heat in the fore- 
noon, Alys. Xo use in adding a heated imagination to 
the actual heat.” 

“ Think how good that cool damp cloth must feel to 
the piano, on its keys,” Beth suggested. “ I like these 
juicy pea pods myself.” She was shelling peas seated 
153 


154 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


on the lower step of the stairway, joining in the con^ 
versation through the open door. 

“Malvina Mellin says,” I^atalie began, appearing 
from the rear door that led into the end of the hall 
from the drawing-room ; Natalie enjoyed Malvina’s 
syllables so much that she was prone to use them all, 
“ Malvina Mellin says that she thinks, maybe, she can 
set foot to floor to-day. She says she’s just as tired of 
being ornamental as we are of having her. She also says 
she’s tired of seeing Alys and me help ’round when we 
ain’t used to it, nor no need of being. I think I’ve 
quoted correctly. I’ve told her repeatedly that we were 
enjoying this new kind of summer beyond telling, but she 
persists in regarding us as lilies-of-the-field suffering 
from a sort of blight. So she will try to walk to-day.” 

“ The doctor said she might. You have been as good 
and dear as you could be ! ” cried Beth. “ We’re going 
to have fun every minute in August to make up for it ! ” 
Aunt Kebecca glanced at Beth, and then at Natalie, 
with an untranslatable look. “ Oliver Little’s coming 
up the street, heading for here,” was all that she said. 

Oliver came up the steps and pushed open the sum- 
mer screen of green blind doors which served the old 
Bristead house for exclusion of sun and admittance of 
air in appropriately soothing and old-fashioned way. 

“ Hallo, there, Beth ! ” he greeted Beth, first to 
meet his eyes with her dish of peas. Where’s Dirk ? ” 
“ Dirk took Trump out for exercise ; I don’t want to 
ride this hot morning. Would Cricket do?” asked 
Beth as the comical little dog pounced with his large 


THE MONTH OF THE LION 


155 


paws on a pea that popped on the floor and made a 
great fuss over his important capture. 

“ If you think he can help me clear out the swimming 
hole Dirk and I are going to fix up, near the mill, on 
the Branch,” said Noll. “ Hallo, Natalie, hallo, Alys ! 
Good-morning, Miss Bristead. Cricket can dig all 
right where he thinks there are rabbits. I was up 
there this morning and a funny thing happened, maybe 
the clue to a crime, or the clue to a claim ; something 
queer.” 

“ Up at the Branch ? ” asked Aunt Kebecca. Oliver’s 
audience was instantly interested. 

“ Even so,” replied Noll with a bow. “ Isn’t that 
the sort of language for the Tale of an Adventure ? I 
was up there, looking around, and there came along a 
mighty fine looking chap, young, twenty-four, about, 
I should say, and he stopped, too. He had on a tourist 
kind of suit, brown mixed, knickers and cap, and carried 
a stick — looked a top notch Alp climber, or something 
like that. He began to talk to me, the way people 
always begin, ‘pretty country,’ ‘going to be warm,’ 
all those small change pieces you drop into the slot to 
pull out a new acquaintance. Then he spoke of the 
old mill, fine timber in it, strong built, picturesque 
situation and so on, and he asked what was the name 
of the little stream, if it had a name ? He called it a 
brook, so I told him it was a branch of the big river 
and we called it after the family that owned the land 
and had always owned it, pretty much — Bristead’s 
Branch. He pricked up his ears like a horse. ‘ Bris; 


166 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


tead ! ’ he said, sort of a jump in his voice. ‘Little 
Beth Bristead’s family ? ’ ‘ Surest thing you know,’ I 

told him. ‘ The old Bristead house, with Beth in it, is 
on down through these fields. There’s an old wood 
road they used to take to drive to the mill with grist 
runs right down there.’ ‘ Thanks. I’m much obliged ; 
glad I happened to meet you ; we’ll meet again, likely,’ 
he said. And went off, swinging along, whistling sort 
of behind his teeth, and I was big enough chump to let 
him go and never say a word to find out who he was, 
how he knew Beth, if he had a name, or what ! But it’s 
likely he’ll call here, or else watch for Beth and kidnap 
her, if he’s a rascal ! Not that he could be,” added 
Oliver, plainly most favorably impressed by the stranger. 

“ Not the prince ! ” exclaimed Alys. 

“ Who can he be ? ” cried Beth, in the same breath, 
excited by this apparition which — or who — knew her, 
of all unlikely things ! 

But Natalie blushed all over her lovely face and 
asked with brightening eyes : “Was he tall, very 
strong looking, not stout, but big, with fine muscle, 
like an athlete, free, quick walk, jolly face, very kind, 
honest eyes ? ” 

“Here’s the other member of the gang!” cried 
Oliver. “ You know him I That’s the man.” 

But Alys and Beth cried out together : “ Mr. Leonard ! 
Bob Leonard ! ” and Beth nearly spilled her peas in the 
start of pleasure she gave. 

“ Where can he have come from ? ” cried Natalie. 
“ He must be staying near here and w^alked over to 


THE MONTH OF THE LION 


157 


find us ! Noll, if you find Dirk tell him Oh, he’ll 

come home first, anyway, with Trump. But he 
wouldn’t miss Mr. Leonard for anything. That’s the 
one who taught us gymnastics in New York. He’s a 
college graduate and perfectly splendid in every way, 
but he hasn’t much money and he taught us gymnastics 
— others, too — while he studied law. Dirk worships 
him. He saved Dirk’s life last winter when the 
trapeze broke. Beth must have told you about it, 
Aunt Kebecca ? ” 

“ She did,” said Aunt Kebecca. “ Do you think the 
young man will be here to dinner, Natalie ? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t know ! He may not come here till the 
afternoon. Perhaps Dirk will meet him and bring him 
back when he comes. Mr. Leonard would recognize 
Trump in the distance. Ella was going to let me make 
dessert. Perhaps I’d better get it through ! How 
queer — but nice, different, you know ! — it is to have 
company when you do things for them yourself ! ” 
Natalie hurried away in a happy flutter of excitement. 

Oliver went away. Alys finished her attentions to 
the piano, brought in and arranged sweet peas to adorn 
it and left the room to its hushed and darkened cool- 
ness. Beth carried the peas out to Ella Lowndes and 
came back to put in order the magazines and papers 
which littered the living-room table. She found Aunt 
Rebecca sitting in the armchair which had been her 
father’s, her head low upon her breast, her eyes fixed 
upon her clasped hands in her lap. Their unwonted 
idleness and her attitude filled Beth with quick alarm. 


158 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


‘‘ Aunt Kebecca, aren’t you well ? ” she cried running 
over to her and throwing an arm over her great-aunt’s 
shoulder with a loving and protecting movement. 

It seemed to Beth that Aunt Rebecca rested hard 
against her for a moment, before she straightened her- 
self and smiled into the anxious eyes above her, the 
pretty, gentle face all flushed with the great heat of 
this July morning. 

“ I think, Beth,” she said with an imitation of her 
usual manner only partially successful, “ I really think 
that I’ve been active enough years to be allowed to be 
lazy for a few minutes when the thermometer is going 
on up to ninety ! And I am following the thermom- 
eter’s example, going on into high figures, child. I 
am sixty-nine and I suppose any one would admit that 
entitles a person to a lazy hour. Don’t you worry 
over me.” 

Then Beth saw a change come over Aunt Rebecca’s 
face, sadness that was wistful, a great softness and un- 
utterable love for her. 

“ You would mind, wouldn’t you, Beth, if your old 
great-aunt were ill, even though you have your Uncle 
Jim and his gracious wife, lovely Natalie and the other 
two, whom I see you love dearly — and I’m glad and 
thankful to see it, Beth ! ” she said. 

“Why, Aunt Rebecca!” cried Beth in protest. 
“Why, Aunt Rebecca! Of course I should mind, 
dreadfully ! I should be so worried ! You aren’t 
ill, are you?” 

“ Not ill in bed, child ! How could I be ill and go 



BETH DROPPED ON HER KNEES BESIDE THE BIG CHAIR 



THE MONTH OF THE LION 


159 


on in all my old ways ? ” Aunt Kebecca managed her 
short laugh convincingly. “ That was a foolish thing 
to say, and I’ve always flattered myself that I was not 
given to folly. But there’s considerable human nature 
in all human beings ! I believe I want an assurance 
that your knotty great-aunt is dear to you, although 
she is not charming, like your Cortlandt relatives. 
For they are charming and, I’m thankful to say, good 
people, too. But you were born in this house and into 
my care ; you are a Bristead, Beth, and have been my 
child. I like to feel that you are conscious of it.” 

Beth dropped on her knees beside the big chair with 
one of her swift, impetuous movements of love, which 
made her dear to all about her, high and low. 

“ Aunt Kebecca, darling, you do feel that, don’t you ? 
I shall never, never forget to my dying day how you 
brought me up, being so afraid you’d spoil me, making 
me tell the truth in every least thing, and making me 
learn to sew and do things, and be orderly, and letting 
me read splendid books, and — and trying your very 
best to make me a true Bristead, not a disgrace to 
them. Nothing, nobody can ever change that, nor do 
it over again for me,” she said earnestly. 

“ In other words, you feel sure that I did my duty 
by you. No conscientious woman would do less, Beth. 
Is that all you will remember of your childhood and 
me?” 

Aunt Rebecca’s voice had a curious ring in it. The 
emotion of a peculiarly repressed nature was struggling 
to be allowed at last to utter itself. Beth looked into 


160 


BETH»S OLD HOME 


her eyes and saw and understood, as she had never seen 
and understood before. 

“No, Aunt Kebecca, that isn’t all ! That isn’t even 
the most consequence, it isn’t any consequence beside 
the rest of it ! You have loved me every minute, day 
and night, and that’s why you did for me ! You have 
loved me, and just me, ever since I was born. The 
Cortlandts have one another and lots else, but you have 
only me. And all my life I’m going to remember that 
— how Aunt Kebecca loved me, though she did not 
much believe in petting children. And when I’m 
older I shall understand it better and better, so that 
the longer I live and the older I get, the more I shall 
be your own little Beth,” cried Beth rapidly, fervently, 
something impelling her to comfort this lonely woman 
with the assurance. 

Aunt Rebecca put her arms around the child and 
kissed her hard. 

“ God bless you, Beth, for that. And it’s all true ! 
Run along now ; I’ll be out presently,” she said. 

Beth went slowly away to see what progress Natalie 
was making. She had a solemnizing sense of having 
borne a part in something beyond her knowledge, be- 
yond the fulfillment of the present hour. She saw, 
without fully seeing her, Natalie, exceedingly flushed 
and hurried, making a fluffy dessert with raspberries 
in it, under Ella’s guidance, supplemented by a cook 
book in a glossy enameled cover, propped up before her. 

“ Do you think it really can be ? ” Natalie exclaimed 
the moment Beth entered. 


THE MONTH OF THE LION 


161 


“ I don’t know, oh, I don’t know ! ” Beth said, speak- 
ing and looking troubled. “ It certainly seems as 
though there was something, but I don’t know what. 
And she always is well.” 

“ Always is — who is always well ? What has that 
to do with Mr. Leonard ? ” cried Natalie. 

“ Mr. Leonard ? I forgot all about him. You meant 
can it really be Mr. Leonard Noll saw ? I don’t see 
who else it could be. But, Natalie, that doesn’t seem 

to matter now. Aunt Kebecca ” Beth stopped. 

“ There’s Dirk coming around from the front. He 
didn’t meet him, then. Yet he does look queer.” 

Dirk thrust his head around the doorway casement. 
His face was purple-red, his eyes snapping, he spoke in 
a muffled voice. 

“ Hope you’ll have a fine dinner ; don’t let Nat spoil 
it, Ella. I’m hungry. Trump feels too giddy, Beth ; 
you don’t ride enough. Well, look at that!” Dirk 
added with well-simulated surprise. 

Both girls and Ella looked. There in the outer door- 
way, on the upper step, stood Bob Leonard. While 
Dirk had talked and kept the girls’ eyes on himself, 
Mr. Leonard had come across from the barn, having 
met Dirk and walked up beside Trump, and now pre- 
sented himself, most informally, at the back door. He 
looked perfectly delighted to be there and his eyes 
rested on Natalie, at her domestic employment, as if 
he saw her beauty and her for the first time. Beth 
forgot her grave little interview with Aunt Kebecca 
and sprang to greet him. 


162 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“It really is you! Noll described you and we 
guessed ! I am so glad to see you ! ” she cried. 

Kobert Leonard took both her hands and swung 
Beth’s arms high, bringing her hands together on his 
breast. 

“ You dear little Beth 1 And I am glad to see you. 
It’s such a relief to find you precisely the same Beth, 
in a new place I ” he said. Then he turned to Natalie, 
who was somewhat embarrassed by her big apron. 

“I am just as glad to see you as Beth is, Mr. 
Leonard,” she declared. “I’m afraid I’ve white of 
egg on my fingers 1 It seems as though I ought to 
have on my gym uniform when I see you. I’m learn- 
ing other feats now. Please don’t mind my apron ! ” 

“ I’d mind more your thinking of me only as your 
instructor, Miss Natalie,” said the young man, smiling, 
but in earnest. 

“ There is none of the Cortlandts who does not think 
of you first and oftenest as the one to whom we owe 
Dirk’s life, Mr. Leonard,” said Natalie, with all of her 
mother’s sweet cordiality. “ Let Beth take you in to 
meet her aunt ; Alys is somewhere about, and I’ll be 
through with my attempt here in no time ! ” 

Bob Leonard smiled again, saying nothing, but Beth 
decided that he was greatly pleased to find her eldest 
cousin, whom he had always called “ the Princess 
Natalie,” beating eggs like an ordinary mortal of 
sixteen. 

Aunt Kebecca was so completely her every-day self 
when Beth conducted Mr. Leonard to her that Beth’s 


THE MONTH OF THE LION 


163 


clear young eyes saw no trace of her emotion of a short 
time before. Beth decided to believe that she had im- 
agined it ; she could not quite believe so yet. Beth 
saw that Aunt Eebecca approved of Bob Leonard in- 
stantly ; he was the sort of manly, honest, kind and 
well-bred person that Aunt Eebecca was quick to ap- 
praise and approve. 

“ Of course you are dining with us, Mr. Leonard,” 
she said. “ How do you account for finding yourself 
in Chilton ? ” 

Bob Leonard laughed. ‘‘ I am supposed to be spend- 
ing my vacation in Salem,” he said. “ But I have ex- 
panded over the state. I went wandering afoot and 
came to Chilton purposely to look up Beth. I did not 
know, until I was told in the village, that her cousins 
were here.” 

The village is authority for whatever happens,” 
commented Aunt Eebecca. “ But it is a pleasant place. 
Perhaps you will linger longer than you at first in- 
tended ? ” 

‘‘ I am not sure that I did not intend to linger longer 
than I intended ! ” laughed Bob, with such a merry 
twinkle that it called out answering twinkles, like a 
candle between mirrors. 

Bob’s appetite proved to be as hearty as his laugh. 
He did full justice to Ella’s cooking, which is saying a 
great deal, because Ella Lowndes was a famous cook 
in a community of skilled cooks. Natalie’s ice cold, 
fragile dessert, all rosy with raspberries and snowy 
with meringue, was delicious. Bob Leonard rolled up 


164 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


his eyes when he tasted it and caressed the first mouth- 
ful with his tongue against the roof of his mouth. 

“ What’s its honorable name ? ” he asked. 

“ I suppose it ought to be called Kaspberry Frivol, 
because I got the idea from a cook book recipe for 
Peach Frivol. But as the raspberry is my own idea, 
I’m going to name this IS’atalie’s Notion,” Natalie said, 
looking delighted over her success. 

“ I’d want it to be Natalie’s Ocean ; one would never 
get enough of it,” said Bob Leonard. “Say, Miss 
Natalie, do you mind if I tell you that I think it’s great 
to find you learning all the old-fashioned tricks, to add 
to your modern accomplishments ? ” 

“ Oh, mother is a wise lady ! ” said Dirk. “ I see 
why she wanted the girls here while she was away ! ” 

“We’re learning and enjoying so much that it’s al- 
most like waking up in another world,” said Alys. 
“We’re having a fine time this summer.” 

“ Beth called last winter her Wonder-Winter. If we 
had to name this summer we might call it our Satisfac- 
tory Summer.” Natalie smiled at Aunt Kebecca as she 
spoke. 

“ Or your Sowing Summer ; you are sowing more 
than you realize, little Daughters of Luxury,” said 
Aunt Kebecca, returning the smile. “ Mr. Leonard, is 
there any great news in the world beyond quiet Chil- 
ton?” 

“ Nothing that I have any more information on than 
the papers give. Miss Bristead. You know some peo- 
ple feared war would grow out of the question of the 


THE MONTH OE THE LION 


165 


Servian succession,” replied Bob Leonard, dropping a 
lump of sugar in his coffee. 

“ I am not afraid of the great nations warring over 
little Servia. It doesn’t seem to me there ever can be 
a great war again,” said Aunt Kebecca. 

“The civilized world has talked and labored for 
peace, arbitration and Hague tribunal and all that. 
But I wish I could believe human nature changed. 
I’m afraid war will be long dying out. It isn’t likely 
to happen while your father and mother are over there 
to see it.” Bob Leonard looked over at Dirk. “We 
shall not hear that Mr. James Cortlandt is appointed 
Commander-in-chief of His Majesty King George’s 
army, because he happened along in the war year.” 

“ England will not be involved in war, I suppose ; if 
ever there is one it seems to threaten the continent,” 
Aunt Kebecca commented. “ Have you any plan for 
entertaining Mr. Leonard this afternoon, Beth ? ” 

“We always take people up that dear walk to the 
Branch,” Beth answered. “ But Mr. Leonard has been 
there; there is where Noll met him. I wish I did 
know something nice to do. Do you, Natalie and 
Alys?” 

“ Is the Branch short for Bristead’s Branch ? Then I 
have seen it, but I mean to go again. It’s mighty pretty 
there. Why don’t you turn that old mill into a gym- 
nasium? We could get at our old exercises. Your 
Bluebird and Tanager Club ought to suit well among 
the trees,” suggested Bob. 

“ Oh, me, oh, my ! To-day ? When the thermome- 


166 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


ter’s too high to reach on a trapeze?” cried Beth. 
“ Would you stay the rest of the summer and teach us, 
though ? Because I know we’d all be willing to try to 
bear it, if you would.” 

Bob Leonard shook his head. “It wouldn’t do, 
heroic Elizabeth ! But I’d start you,” he said. 

“ Aren’t you reading law, Mr. Leonard ? ” Aunt Ke- 
becca asked unexpectedly as Beth opened her lips to 
say something further. “ Are you a lawyer ? ” 

“ Not admitted to the bar, but I’m studying hard for 
it,” said Bob Leonard, surprised. 

“There’s one lawyer in Chilton in whom I have 
confidence, but, to make a bull, he is in the White 
Mountains — away for the summer,” said Aunt Kebecca. 
“ I couldn’t be hired to ask a question of the other firm 
here. I wonder if you’d let me do something unlikely 
and unpardonable — consult you on a point that should 
be settled at once ? ” 

“ Why, surely. Miss Bristead ! ” Kobert arose as he 
spoke, forgetting that his hostess was still seated at the 
table. “If it is anything that I know, that I can be 
useful in, pray command me ; it would be a pleasure to 
me.” 

Aunt Kebecca also pushed back her chair. Beth 
thought she was pale and her eyes rested on her be- 
loved child without seeing her. 

“ Come into my small private room, Mr. Leonard. 
It is business that I do not want the children to know 
about — yet. You shall be told about it later, Beth.” 

She led the way to the small room off the drawing- 


THE MONTH OF THE LION 


167 


room which had always been a domain of mystery to 
Beth. Aunt Kebecca had never encouraged her to in- 
trude upon its privacy ; though she knew now that 
there was absolutely nothing in it but two chairs, a desk, 
table and books, nevertheless, the awe with which it 
had inspired her when she was a tiny child hung about 
it still. Bob Leonard followed Aunt Kebecca, with a 
smile of parting over his shoulder for the four he was 
leaving. They looked at one another in silent amaze- 
ment. Surely this was all very strange ! 

Malvina Mellin was on her feet again, with restric- 
tions and cautious use of them. Natalie, Alys and 
Beth went out the side door to sit on the grass, under 
the big horse-chestnut tree, and wonder. Dirk threw 
himself in the hammock that swung between the 
horse-chestnut and the Bartlett pear tree, one leg and 
one arm thrown over each side of the hammock to 
catch any unlikely breeze that might wander around 
in the heat, and, without speaking, he joined in the 
girls’ speculations. After a considerable time, perhaps 
an hour, Dirk sat up so suddenly that he had no time 
to gather in his dispersed limbs and nearly fell out of 
the hammock. 

“ Say, Ella Lowndes and Malvina went in there ! 
They — Ella — seemed to answer a call. I saw her come 
into the hall and bend as if she were speaking. Then 
she went back, and now she and Malvina went in there. 
What on earth’s going on ? Aunt Kebecca isn’t sick, 
do you s’pose ? Maybe she called for — I don’t know ! 
Something to take ! ” cried Dirk. 


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BETH'S OLD HOME 


“ She can’t be making ” began Alys, but Natalie 

was too quick for her to finish. 

With a warning glance toward Beth, she poked her 
sister vigorously with the toe of her pump. “ Making 
Ella or Malvina let Mr. Leonard advise them about 
some investment for their savings? I shouldn’t be 
surprised, Alys. That would be just like Aunt 
Kebecca. Oh, I don’t believe she’s sick, Dirk. What- 
ever it is, it isn’t any of our affairs now. Aunt Kebecca 
said she’d tell us about it later.” 

Then she began to chant: “Curiosi-t-y once killed 
a kit-t-y ! ” over and over again. 

But Beth, a little frown between her eyes, was fol- 
lowing backward the clues in this strange action of 
Aunt Rebecca’s. 

“ Natalie, you have to have witnesses to a will, don’t 
you ? You don’t suppose Aunt Kebecca is making her 
will, do you ? ” she cried, interrupting the chant. 

“ People rarely get up suddenly from the dinner 
table and carry off a perfectly new guest to make a 
will, Beth. Especially on such a hot- warm day ! 
Don’t look so frightened. There can’t be anything 
wrong, honey ! ” said Natalie, pulling Beth’s anxious 
face to her with a hand on each cheek and petting her 
by rubbing the tip of her nose against Beth’s forehead, 
much as Cricket might have done. And as she did so 
the little dog began to whimper and wag his too-broad 
tail, as he always did if any one touched Beth. 

“Well, it certainly is fearfully queer!” murmured 
Beth, unconvinced. 


THE MONTH OF THE LION 


169 


It was not long after this that Aunt Kebecca came 
out to join them. Beth ran to meet her and it seemed 
to her — or was it imagination ? — that Aunt Eebecca’s 
face looked flushed and that her eyes were sad and 
excited. She laid her hand on Beth’s shoulder, at first 
with a perceptibly repelling touch, then instantly hold- 
ing her and drawing her forward. 

Bob Leonard came slowly across the grass toward 
the group. He was too young and too little an adept 
at concealment to hide the fact that he was disturbed. 
He and Natalie exchanged glances, significant, yet un- 
translatable. Natalie felt that Bob was taking her 
into his confidence, yet could not translate its mean- 
ing. 

“ I think I’ll go to Boston to-morrow, in connection 
with the business Mr. Leonard and I were discussing,” 
Aunt Kebecca announced with elaborate carelessness. 
“ Mr. Leonard is kind enough to say that he will go 
with me. He is an old-fashioned youth ; he feels that 
a person of my age needs help, and that it is the office 
of one of his age to assist her ! I am going to accept 
his escort ; it is more than welcome. I may be de- 
tained — some time.” Aunt Rebecca hesitated. 

“ Are you going to stay over night. Aunt Rebecca ? ” 
cried Beth. 

“ Dear me, yes ! Business is not always so simple, 
child. I shall probably stay several days. You will 
get on here with Ella and Malvina. If I thought I 
should be gone long I should ask Lydia Tappan to stay 
with you, but it isn’t necessary. No likelihood of your 


170 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


father and mother coming home next week, Natalie ? ” 
Aunt Eebecca asked. 

The week after, Aunt Eebecca ; they said about 
the 9th of August, you know. Of course weTl have to 
go home w'hen they come. I hate to go, much as I’ll 
love to see the beautiful mother and perfectly satis- 
factory father ! ” Natalie tried to laugh, but she was 
conscious of apprehension which she could not under- 
stand. 

“ Well, I’m going to Boston in the morning and take 
Mr. Leonard with me. I believe I’ll go talk to Ella 
Lowndes and Malvina Mellin about it. They’ll have 
to be told what to do. I beg your pardon, Cricket ! ” 
Aunt Eebecca added as she tripped over the small dog 
and he uttered an hysterical note. “ A footstool is a 
cricket in New England ; you must expect to be stepped 
on.” She walked slowly away, then halted and turned 
back. “ I always loved it out under these trees, on this 
side,” she said, and then went into the house. 


CHAPTER X 


MISS BRISTEAD 



HE old Bristead house was early astir in the morn- 


i ing to get its mistress off on the train that left 
Chilton for Boston at 8 : 22, the fastest and in every 
way the best train of the day. Robert Leonard would 
join Aunt Rebecca at the station ; he had taken lodg- 
ings at the Chilton Arms for that night and planned to 
return there. 

Beth went about in a dazed way while Ella and 
Malvina efficiently hurried breakfast and Xatalie and 
Alys helped Aunt Rebecca with personal preparations. 
Beth, usually a competent little creature, ready with 
hands and wits, held Aunt Rebecca’s black hand-bag 
and silk gloves and watched the others, accomplishing 
nothing more than watching. It was all so strange ; 
Aunt Rebecca’s going away so suddenly ; Mr. Leonard 
appearing unexpectedly from nowhere in particular and 
now escorting Aunt Rebecca on this journey. Aunt 
Rebecca, who was usually so slow to admit new ac- 
quaintances ! And this after being closeted with her 
the previous afternoon, discussing mysterious business. 

“ It’s going to be another day like yesterday ; you’ll 
roast in Boston, Aunt Rebecca ! It’s so strange that 
you’re going so suddenly,” Beth said, arousing enough 


171 


172 BETH’S OLD HOME 

to pick a white thread from Aunt Rebecca’s fleckless 
skirt. 

“ Boston is likely to get an east wind and be chilly 
when the tide turns,” said Aunt Rebecca. “ In any case, 
Beth, necessity does not consult thermometers. As to 
its being sudden, I’ve had this trip in mind for some time. 
Do you think because the prince has not conferred the 
Order and ring on me that I can’t do a disagreeable 
thing when I see it must be done, little Elizabeth ? ” 

“ I think you couldn’t help doing what you thought 
you ought to do. Aunt Rebecca. If any one ever was 
born in that Order, you were ! ” Beth spoke with con- 
viction. 

“ Pudding stone rock and Puritan principles, Beth ! 
That’s what we inherit and it’s a combination not likely 
to produce self-indulgence. It’s an excellent founda- 
tion for you on which to build the gentler virtues you’ll 
learn from your Cortlandt relatives. Taking the two 
together, you ought to grow into a valuable and greatly 
blessed woman, Beth,” said Aunt Rebecca. And again 
Beth wondered, for were they not discussing Aunt Re- 
becca, not the Miss Bristead whom Beth was to be ? 

Aunt Rebecca ate almost no breakfast and there was 
no attempt on her part to talk. The four young people 
were unwontedly silent ; something brooding and por- 
tentous seemed to be in the air. Ella Lowndes did not 
come into the room. Malvina replenished the coffee-pot 
and the muifin plate — unnecessarily — but her ruddy face 
was pale and she made no attempt at the comments 
with which she ordinarily favored her employers. 


MISS BEISTEAD 


173 


“ The depot carriage is at the door, Miss Bristead,” 
said Malvina, putting her head in at the dining-room 
door and instantly withdrawing it. 

“ Oh, Aunt Kebecca, and I wanted to drive you down 
with Trump ! ” Beth remonstrated. 

“ I like this way better, child — this time,” said Aunt 
Rebecca. 

She arose from the table, accepted her umbrella 
from Alys, offered her shoulders to Natalie for her 
practical but unbeautiful linen coat, thanking Dirk 
with a brief nod for his attempt to render her the same 
service. But Beth, offering her bag and gloves to her. 
Aunt Rebecca hardly noticed. Aunt Rebecca rapidly 
surveyed the dining-room, her eyes resting on each 
piece of old-fashioned furniture in turn. 

“ There’s water spilled on the side table ; better wipe 
it off ; it turns mahogany white,” she said, to no one in 
particular. 

Then she went out through the hall, straightening 
the card tray on the old table on the side as she passed, 
looked in at the drawing-room door, and halted at the 
summer blind doors. There, for the first time, she 
turned to Beth, following her, still with the bag and 
gloves. Aunt Rebecca took them from her, her face 
white, her lips grim, her eyes full of pain, like a dumb 
animal’s. 

“ You’ll get a letter from me, Beth, if I don’t — come 
back — soon,” she said, and opened the door. But not 
to go at once. She turned back and crushed Beth in 
an embrace that hurt. 


174 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ Good-bye, my darling, my darling ! ” Beth thought 
she heard it, yet could not believe Aunt Kebecca’s 
voice could utter these words, in that stifled cry. 

On the step Aunt Kebecca paused an instant. Then 
Beth saw her straighten, with a movement of the 
shoulders that stiffened them, glance swiftly back at 
and over the house, then walk, without turning, down 
the graveled walk, out of the white gate, get into the 
low station phaeton and drive away. 

Beth stood exactly as Aunt Kebecca had left her, 
listening to the rattle of the wheels and the even fall 
of the horse’s feet down the shady street. Then she 
turned to Natalie and threw herself on the elder girl’s 
shoulder. Her face had lost all its color, she trembled, 
and Natalie patted her soothingly. 

Oh, what is it ? What can be wrong ? ” Beth cried. 
“ There’s something wrong, dreadfully wrong, but what 
can it be ? ” 

“ I think mySelf there’s something happened,” said 
Dirk, as Natalie did not answer, and Alys pretended to 
tie her shoe and not to hear. “ But what it is gets me ! ” 

“Natalie, you’ve been sitting with Aunt Kebecca a 
lot lately, learning mending and knitting. Has she 
told you ? ” demanded Beth. 

“ No, indeed, truly, not a word, Bethie,” said Natalie. 

“ Keeping Mr. Leonard yesterday, talking, and taking 
him down with her to-day, I believe a bank has failed, 
or she’s lost all her money, or something like that,” 
said Alys, and if Beth had been looking she would have 
seen that Natalie looked relieved by the suggestion, for 


MISS BEISTEAD 


175 


her conjectures ran in an altogether different direction, 
toward which she hoped Beth’s would not turn. 

Beth shook her head. “ I don’t, Alys. If Aunt Re- 
becca were troubled about money she would talk of it 
to me ; she wouldn’t feel that she couldn’t speak of 
that. I’m afraid it’s much worse than money,” she said. 

“ Well, whatever it is, if she had wanted us to know 
about it she would have told us. So perhaps we ought 
not to try to ferret it out,” suggested Natalie. “ And 
if we guessed right we shouldn’t know we had. So 
let’s find something to do and try not to think about it.” 

“ You’re good, Natalie ! And sensible, too. It’s 
strange to be that and so awfully pretty ! ” said Beth, 
visibly accepting the advice, drawing a long breath and 
putting her collar straight. “ Of course Aunt Rebecca 
would tell me to go right about my daily tasks. That’s 
really belonging to the Order, isn’t it ? I’ll go wipe 
that water off the side table in the dining-room ; she 
spoke of that. But, oh, Natalie, I’m frightened, I am 
frightened ! ” 

“ It isn’t brave to be courageous when one isn’t 
frightened, Cozbeth dear,” said Natalie. “ It’s truly 
belonging to the Order to be strong of heart when your 
heart is down in your boots ! ” 

Beth had a strain of Aunt Rebecca’s self-contained 
strength of character running through her gentle, 
clinging nature. A loving child and a sensitive one, 
she was also a person to be counted upon to do what 
was required of her without flinching. She had been 
trained to fulfil the lesser duty at hand as a prepara- 


176 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


tion for the greater one that might lie beyond, and she 
had been taught to see that a succession of small duties, 
faithfully fulfilled, made up the sum of a useful and 
happy life. Now, Aunt Kebecca being mysteriously 
gone, leaving behind her apprehension and the sense of 
threatening danger, Beth turned, at Natalie’s sugges- 
tion, to her little daily household tasks as a recourse 
against her own nameless fear. But when she went 
into the kitchen to get a cloth to wipe up the water of 
which Aunt Bebecca had spoken as she was going 
away, she came upon Ella Lowndes, her face so swollen 
and disfigured by hard weeping that her absence from 
breakfast was more than explained. 

Beth stopped, aghast. “ Oh, Ella, Ella, what ? ” she 
managed to say. 

“ I felt awful queer, Beth,” said Ella Lowndes, quite 
truthfully. “ I don’t seem to remember feelin’ like that 
before ; I just ache.” Ella choked. “ Silly to get so 
upset, but it’s been a pain I couldn’t seem to stand, not 
properly, an’ I didn’t. But don’t look so frightened. 
There’s nothin’ really wrong with me, I guess. Just 
felt miser’ ble an’ lived down to it. I’ll come around. 
Did you want anything of me ? ” 

“ No,” said Beth slowly. “ Only of the kitchen. A 
cloth to wipe the dining-room table. You couldn’t feel 
so dreadfully because you weren’t well, Ella ; you don’t 
mind just a pain ! At least not so much. I think you 
must know what has happened. I won’t ask you. 
A.unt Kebecca didn’t want me to know, I suppose. 
I’m so frightened, Ella, so terribly frightened that it 


MISS BRISTEAD 


177 


seems as though this July heat was icy. It’s better to 
know anything, anything that’s true, than to guess you- 
don’t-know-what, that may be true and maybe all 
wrong. It freezes your heart.” 

“ You poor child ! That certainly is so, but it sounds 
dreadful to me to hear little Beth saying anything so 
fit only for grown up people,” said Ella. “ Take my 
advice, Bethie, and don’t worry. Be sure you’ll know 
fast enough when anything does happen that can be 
known.” 

Beth took the cloth for which she had come and 
turned away. 

“ It isn’t exactly worrying when you feel as if your 
steady old home had suddenly been filled with a 
monster that was in the air, where it could be felt but 
never seen,” she said. “ But I’m going to try, Ella, to 
behave as Aunt Rebecca would if she were here and I 
had gone so sadly and so strangely. Of course it’s 
when things happen that you get a chance to pay any 
one back. I’d like to pay Aunt Rebecca a little. I 
never knew her so well as since I came home this spring. 
It isn’t that she has done a good deal for me ; not that 
alone.” 

“ Certainly not,” said Ella Lowndes promptly. 
“ Works without faith are dead, the New Testament 
says so. And work without love — well, of course it’s a 
good thing for any one to perform a dooty, but I never 
could feel mere doin’ things for me was much, not to 
save me ! But when anybody does the least thing for 
love of you, that’s what counts. And your Great-aunt 


178 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Kebecca loves you the way a woman as strong as her 
can love a thing that’s the only thing she does really 
love — and a child at that ! ” 

“ Yes,” said Beth. “ That’s what I’ve found out.” 

The long day of nerve- wearing heat dragged itself 
through somehow. Beth tried her best to carry out 
her resolutions, but did not consider herself successful 
in the attempt. When she tried to busy herself she 
found that she succeeded only in moving about, han- 
dling things, putting them down again, beginning some- 
thing, but never finishing it, often standing for a half 
hour at a time looking off into space, puzzling, think- 
ing, perhaps, to be truthful, worrying, in spite of that 
being a harmful employment, for which Aunt Kebecca 
had no toleration. 

Natalie got on better with the hard day, but then 
Natalie was not so closely concerned in its menace. 

Alys went down under the oppressive atmosphere and 
had a headache from heat and nervousness ; she lay 
most of the day on the couch, in the darkened drawing- 
room, and endured herself, and all things else, as well as 
she could, alone. 

Dirk frankly and sensibly took himself off to Oliver. 

“ If I can’t do any good I guess I’ll get out where I 
can’t do any harm ; we’re going swimming in the 
Branch,” he said cheerfully. ‘‘Brace up! If Miss 
Bristead has lost all her money, daddy’ll be home in 
less than two weeks and he’s got enough for the whole 
bunch, and what’s ours is yours, Beth.” 

Beth laughed and felt better for it. She had to ad- 


MISS BEISTEAD 


179 


mit that there was great tonic in a boy’s offhand readi- 
ness to adjust bothers without bothering ! But she had 
no real hope that the mysterious trouble in the air re- 
ferred to money matters. Janie came over for awhile, 
but Janie’s coming of late had not added greatly to 
Beth’s happiness. Janie was changed ; not in the least 
like her old self, and Beth vainly tried to recall that 
old self, afflicted by the change. Toward night, after 
Janie had gone home, a telegram was brought to Beth 
who handed it to Natalie to open, afraid to read its 
message. 

“ Detained a few days. Will write when return de- 
cided. Love. Bebecca Bristead.” 

That was all the telegram held. Its commonplace 
brevity cheered Beth. There was certainly no hint of 
tragedy in those ten words ; perhaps she was wrong to 
think Aunt Rebecca’s face and manner had been full 
of grief when she went away. There was nothing to 
reveal to her the yearning longing that had surged up 
in Aunt Rebecca when she wrote those ten words and 
which that one word “ Love ” inadequately represented. 

No letter came the next day, but the telegram had 
implied that there might be a day or two pass before 
the date of Aunt Rebecca’s return was decided upon. 
The three Cortlandts and Beth cheered up slightly, be- 
ing somewhat adjusted to the situation, and losing 
something of the keenness of the impression of Aunt 
Rebecca’s leaving home. The heavy shower that came 
up in the afternoon, refreshing the parched earth, con- 
tributed its share to making life less hard. Yet at 


180 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


times terror overwhelmed Beth, and J^atalie and Alys, 
also, had moments of renewed fear. It was easy to see 
that Ella Lowndes and Malvina Mellin were growing 
more, not less, anxious with the hours. 

After supper Beth and her cousins went out to sit on 
the steps of the old house, which had been built before 
verandahs were common ; all the dead and gone Bris- 
teads had sat on these steps in the twilight, enjoying 
the young moons which had long waxed and waned, 
just as Beth, Natalie, Alys and Dirk sat to-night to en- 
joy the moon, hanging above the afterglow of a perfect 
sunset. 

There was a grateful fresh breeze, blowing over a 
shower-refreshed earth, laden with delicious odors 
brought out by the rain. A song sparrow, balanced 
on the uppermost tip of a slender little tree, repeated 
his brief perfection of song ; it sounded like summer 
rain and blossoms and sunset set to music. The blind 
doors were wide open, so was the rear door at the other 
end of the hall, so that the old Bristead house was 
swept and garnished by the night breeze and the beauty 
of the falling evening. 

“ It’s a dear old house,” said Alys unexpectedly, . as 
she leaned her head against the casement. “ It isn’t 
splendid, yet it is — magnificent, in a way.” 

“ Indeed it is, Alys ; so real and so dignified. You 
must love it dearly, Beth. Why, here comes Mr. 
Leonard ! ” cried Natalie, her voice instantly tense, as 
Bob Leonard came up the street — alone. 

He walked slowly, with none of the swinging ani- 


MISS BBISTEAD 


181 


mation of his usual gait. All four of the young folk 
got on their feet as he came, unconsciously impelled to 
hear his message standing. 

“Well, little Beth,” he said by way of salutation, 
laying his hand on Beth’s shoulder and drawing Beth 
to him. He did not speak to the others. Instantly 
they all felt that he was the bringer of serious news. 

“ Why didn’t she come home ? ” asked Beth. She 
spoke pantingly and the eyes she raised to Mr. Leonard 
were full of fear. 

“ Suppose we all sit down,” said Bob Leonard, to 
gain time. He moistened his lips and tried to smile 
down on Beth. He lifted her left hand and silently 
twisted around the ring she wore, the sapphire in its 
carved setting, insignia of the prince’s “ Order,” with 
which he had enriched these four young Americans’ 
lives. 

“ Yes,” Beth answered what Kobert did not say in 
words. “ I’ve known for two days I had to be strong 
of heart. Why was it she did not come, Mr. Leonard ? ” 

“ Fine little Beth ! ” cried Bob Leonard, quick tears 
in his eyes. “ Your Aunt Kebecca has gone home, 
dear.” 

Beth did not speak. Natalie and Alys uttered a 
sound together, as if both had drawn in their breath. 
Dirk said slowly, as if he were groping his way through 
a maze : 

“ Not — she couldn’t be — she isn’t dead? ” 

Bob Leonard patted Beth’s shoulder. “ It’s not a 
matter that we should grieve over, unless we are cruelly 


182 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


selfish,” he said. “ Miss Bristead has been ailing for 
some months. Last spring, before Beth came back, 
she went to Boston to see a great surgeon there. He 
told her that she was seriously ill, that if certain symp- 
toms showed themselves she must come, without loss 
of time, to him to undergo an operation. The symp- 
toms developed during the past month. Short as has 
been the time that I’ve known her, I can see that she 
did what was exactly like her, spoke of it to no one, in 
order to spare others, especially Beth, anxiety, and 
went away alone to be cured — one way or another. 
Miss Bristead was a brave woman, great hearted and 
big in every way ! The operation was successfully per- 
formed, but Miss Bristead did not rally from the shock. 
She died without the least suffering this afternoon, 
about two hours after the operation, while a heavy 
thunder shower was passing over the city.” 

“ Oh,” cried out Alys sharply. “ And we had the 
shower here, too ! ” 

Still Beth did not speak. Kobert felt her body quiv- 
ering against his arm. She was trying to adjust her- 
self to the bewildering thought that she was still little 
Beth, sitting on the steps of the old Bristead house, 
amid the familiar surroundings of Aunt Bebecca’s 
home, but that Aunt Rebecca would never see them 
again. That so suddenly she had gone out from among 
them and was no more part of them than was the Isaiah 
Bristead who had built the mill, or the more remote 
Gideon Bristead, who had fought at Lexington and 
whose silhouette hung in the drawing-room. 


MISS BEISTEAD 


183 


Bob Leonard went on talking quietly to give the 
children longer time to recover. “ Your Aunt Kebecca 
wanted to make a new will. She wanted to make Mr. 
Cortlandt her trustee for you, Beth. I drew up that 
will the day I dined here. Miss Bristead left a letter 
for you, too ; she told me where to find it. She talked 

to me a great deal yesterday on the train Was it 

yesterday ? ” Kobert interrupted himself. “ How long 
ago it seems ! When a great event happens, suddenly, 
as this has, it pushes the hours before it far back into 
the distance. Curious, but death seems to bring eter- 
nity to us ; it prevents our measuring time. Your aunt 
bade me tell you to send for Miss Tappan to stay with 
you, if you wish to, but that she had not spoken to her 
because she thought Mrs. Cortlandt would be here 
so soon that — with your cousins and your Ella and 
Malvina — you would not want this Miss Tappan.” 

He glanced at Hatalie, sitting pale and silent, strok- 
ing Beth’s hand. He wondered what she would think 
if she knew that Miss Bristead had said to him : “Of 
course I see quite clearly what beauty in Chilton drew 
you here. But Natalie is far too young for her to 
know it. She is in my care. You will be careful not 
to let her guess, Mr. Kobert Leonard ? ” 

And that he had said : “ Far too young a girl and 
far too rich for me to betray what you have seen, now 
or ever. But I want to be where I can see her.” 

And sensible Aunt Rebecca had smiled on him, 
kindly, and said : “ As to that it is a matter for Mr. 
Cortlandt to decide when the time comes. You would 


184 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


be right to tell him. It is a pity if a man’s wealth 
cheats his daughter out of more valuable possessions.” 

Eobert wondered what lovely JS’atalie, sitting so un- 
conscious and grave in her untried sixteen years, would 
think if she could even dream of this little talk. Aunt 
Eebecca had been her true admirer and good friend. 

Beth sprang to her feet with a little cry, as if she 
had wakened from sleep. 

“No one has told Ella ! I must go find Ella Lowndes. 
She has been here all my life and she loves Aunt Ee- 
becca,” she said hurrying around the house, avoiding 
entering the long hall that seemed to summon its 
mistress. 

After Beth had gone Eobert told her cousins that its 
mistress would be brought into it in the morning. 

Beth found Ella Lowndes on the back steps, her 
head on her knees, not crying, merely sitting there. 
She lifted her head and opened her arms and Beth 
sprang into them. 

“ No need to tell me, Beth. I knew when I heard 
that young man’s voice. Don’t you fret, dear. Your 
Aunt Eebecca was sixty-nine years old, and she’d of 
hated to live to be feeble. And if ever a human crea- 
ture was an unmixed joy to any one, that’s what you 
was to Miss Bristead. You’ve been a biddable little 
thing from the first, and she just took solid comfort 
with you. You ought to be real glad you could be, 
to a solitary woman like her and one that hankered 
after lovin’ the more that it wasn’t born in her to 
know how to call it out. It isn’t losin’ folks, Beth, 


MISS BEISTEAD 


185 


that’s really hard ; it’s knowin’ you lost your chance 
with ’em to make ’em happy. You ought to be right 
down glad things were as they were with your aunt. 
Not but what I know talkin’s easy and I — I guess she’s 
more ’f a loss to me than to you, come right to it, for 
I’ve been here a good while and I’ve nowhere I want 
to go when you go to your uncle’s, as of course you 
will. You just try not to fret one mite, but look at it 
sensibly, just as she’d have you. And it’s only wicked 
people, or no account people who can die, in any real 
sense of the word, ‘ The just shall be in ever lastin’ re- 
membrance,’ that’s what the Bible says, and it’s so. 
Look how your good Bristead forebears — like Isaiah 
who built the mill to help an enemy — how their mem- 
ories go right on, not only goin’ on, but workin’ effects. 
Your Aunt Bebecca couldn’t die while you’re alive, so 
you be cheerful and go right along doin’ your best, and 
thus lettin’ her live out herself through you.” 

No one else could have comforted and cheered Beth 
as did Ella Lowndes with her comfortable familiarity 
with Beth’s entire lifetime and her homely teaching in 
precisely Aunt Kebecca’s own key, allowing for the 
difference between the educated and the uneducated 
women. It added infinitely to Ella’s effect on Beth 
that she knew that it was quite true that not even the 
child she had brought up would miss Aunt Bebecca as 
would Ella Lowndes. 

The next day Aunt Bebecca came home. When 
Beth saw how peaceful was her face, with what utter 
content her brow was crowned, how serenely she lay 


186 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


in the drawing-room, waiting to go out of the old 
house to join the rest of the Bristeads on the hillside, 
Beth felt that tears were out of place. Dimly the little 
girl realized that in this repose lay the explanation of 
all old races, old homesteads, of all lives : to play an 
honorable part and then, at last, to be crowned a victor 
and pass on beyond events which end. 

The simple service in the drawing-room, before Aunt 
Kebecca left it, was what she would have wished it to 
be. The old house was crowded, for though Aunt 
Kebecca lived a secluded life, she was the last, except 
Beth, of a name that had stood high in the community 
for generations, and in a quiet way her influence had 
been far-reaching. 

Carried beyond herself in an exaltation of mood that 
was like her, Beth joined in the hymns which she 
and Aunt Rebecca had dearly loved. Beth had a 
beautiful, true voice and Aunt Kebecca had often 
asked her to sing to her in the long evenings, when 
they had been alone together. Now, sitting at the 
head of her casket, Beth was moved once more to sing 
to Aunt Rebecca, and, though there were a few who 
criticized the unsuitability of it, most of those present, 
knowing Beth and her great-aunt, understood and were 
glad that Beth could sing that day. 

The sunset was flooding the old house when Beth 
and her cousins and Ella came back to it from the 
beautiful resting place on the hillside where Aunt 
Kebecca was united to the long line of Bristeads who 
had preceded her there. 


MISS BEISTEAD 


187 


Eobert Leonard and Miss Tappan came home with 
the others, and a distant cousin or two from far-off 
places. 

Malvina Mellin had remained behind to set things 
back into their ordinary places, and to let in all the 
sunshine that the old square house, with its windows 
admirably arranged for reflection, would admit. 

“ Seems queer, don’t it, Beth, to have a place all 
your own ? ” suggested Miss Tappan, removing her 
hat in Beth’s room. 

“ Oh, I haven’t ! ” protested startled Beth. 

“ Of course you have ! Aren’t you the only Bristead 
now ? And who else on earth do you imagine would 
have the old place ? Your Aunt Eebecca’s left you 
everything she had on earth, of course,” said Miss 
Tappan smoothing her hair. 

‘‘ You are much richer than Alys and I ; we don’t 
own the least little shanty ! ” said Natalie, pulling Beth 
to her to kiss her. 

“ Oh, I can’t own this house ! ” Beth cried wildly. 

“ You are Miss Bristead now, Miss Elizabeth Bristead, 
and you are the only one to keep up the honorable in- 
heritance that’s fallen to you,” said Miss Tappan, who 
loved eloquence and had always venerated the Bris- 
teads. 

“ Miss Bristead ! ” faltered Beth. “ Oh, not to-night ! 
I don’t want to own it to-night. I must wait a while 
to own the dear old house ! ” 


CHAPTER XI 


“a message feom maes” 

OW, Beth, if you want I should stay with you, 



just say the word,” said Miss Tappan on the 
third day after Aunt Rebecca’s funeral. She was 
getting together the few belongings which she had 
brought with her for a brief stay, but she paused on 
her knees before her bag to look up at Beth and make 
this offer. “ I could put off the Tuttles for a week. 
I’m working on Annie Tuttle’s outfit — she’ll be married 
in October, so of course there’s no hurry. I thought I’d 
get in all I could do on it this summer, before my 
reg’lar fall engagements begin, but it wouldn’t make 
enough difference to notice if I stayed here a week. 
So say the word if you want me, Beth.” 

Beth shook her head. “ Xo, thank you ever so 
much, Miss Tappan,” she said. “ Aunt Alida will be 
back in a little over a week and she’ll have to decide 
what I’m to do. You know the letter Aunt Rebecca 
left here for me says she thinks I won’t need you for 
such a little time, and I want to do exactly what she 
said, in every least little way. It’s dreadfully strange 
in the house without Aunt Rebecca, but that is nothing 
we can help. There’re really too many for it to be 
exactly lonely — and yet it is ! But you must go right 


188 


''A MESSAGE FROM MAES'' 


189 


back to the Tuttles, because, with Ella and Malvina 
and my three Cortlandts, we don't need any one else." 

“Well, if I hadn't thought that, myself, I wouldn’t 
have considered going, not if Annie Tuttle had to post^ 
pone her marriage till spring! Rebecca Bristead’s 
household and child would be first of any earthly 
considerations to me. But I truly do think you’ll get 
on just as well if I go back. You could send for me 
in no time if anything happened.” And Miss Tappan 
resumed her preparations for departure. 

“ I’m going to drive you over ; Trump and I are go- 
ing to take you,” announced Beth. 

“ I’ll be ready in ten minutes now,” said Miss Tappan, 
with a rapid survey of the room which showed her 
nothing had been left on the dresser, table, nor chairs. 

“ I am ready, except my hat. I’ll go harness,” said 
Beth. 

Aunt Rebecca had left a long letter for Beth to read, 
in case she never returned from Boston to resume her 
charge of Beth. The letter touched on all sorts of 
possible events for Beth’s guidance. It asked the little 
girl not to wear mourning. “I don't want to think 
of my child going about with her sunniness clouded. 
Wear just what you would have worn if I had been 
there, the pretty summer thin things you brought from 
New York, and do not shadow your youth with so 
much as a black ribbon. The first duty of everybody 
is to be happy and brighten a world that must, at best, 
have in it plenty of heartache,” Aunt Rececca had 
written. 


190 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


So Beth wore her blues and pinks, her greens and 
corn color, and tried to smile as they did, understand- 
ing that Aunt Kebecca wanted her to do this. For 
Beth found herself feeling that Aunt Kebecca knew 
how her wishes were fulfilled ; it was impossible to 
think of the old house as empty of her presence. 

“ I won’t be long,” Beth called back to her cousins 
as she drove away and they, on the steps, watched her 
go and waved good-bye to Miss Tappan. 

Nevertheless it was more than two hours before Beth 
got back. The Tuttles, to whose house she drove Miss 
Tappan, lived at a considerable distance from the Bris- 
teads, a quarter of an hour’s talk at their gate was un- 
escapable, the day was warm and Beth would not hurry 
little Trump, so, altogether, more than two hours had 
passed since her setting out, when Beth drove in at the 
side gate of her home and on to the barn. 

Dirk rushed around the corner, running at top speed 
to join Beth, but Natalie and Alys came flying out of 
the house, running, too, as fast as he, and waving their 
hands wildly. 

“Wait for us! Wait, Dirk!” Beth made out that 
they were calling. 

“ What in all the world has happened ? ” cried Beth, 
when her three breathless cousins reached her ; Dirk 
first, but not speaking, whether because he could not, 
or whether he was waiting for the girls, Beth was not 
sure. Then she saw Robert Leonard coming also, but 
not running, walking fast, with a newspaper in his 
hand. 


“A MESSAGE FBOM MAES'> 


191 


“ What do you suppose it is that has happened ? ” 
Alys retorted. 

‘‘War in Europe ! ” Dirk fairly screamed. 

“What?” cried bewildered Beth. “War in 

Why, for pity’s sake, are you all so excited ? ” 

“ Germany and France gone to war ! ” cried Dirk. 
“ Declared war day before yesterday. Maybe England 
going to get in it, and Eussia, and Americans over 
there, perhaps, can’t get home ! Now why are we ex- 
cited, Miss Beth ? ” 

“ Oh, mercy ! ” exclaimed Beth, falling back against 
the wheel of her cart and staring in dismay at her 
cousins. 

“Did you ever in all your life hear anything so 
horrible ? ” demanded l^atalie, white to the lips. “ And 
they were to sail to-morrow ! ” 

Eobert joined them. “ Don’t frighten little Beth to 
death,” he said. “ But it is serious, Beth. It is like 
the proverbial bolt from a blue sky. Germany will 
invade France, demanding passage through Belgium. 
You see we are not sure where Mr. and Mrs. Cortlandt 
have been for the past ten days, but we do know they 
were going back to Paris and leave there for home. 
Americans are probably going to have trouble getting 
back. I don’t suppose they will be in danger, but we 
may have to wait a while to welcome them ; I mean 
the particular Americans we are interested in. We 
saw no Sunday paper yesterday, so we missed the 
news.” 

“ Oh, I’m so glad you are here ! ” cried Natalie. 


192 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Kobert flushed with pleasure. “ Then I certainly 
am, though I was anyway,” he said. “I don’t see 
that I can be useful to you ; you need no better guard- 
ians than Beth’s Ella and Malvina.” 

“ But you are a man ! ” said Alys, voicing the de- 
pendence of her sex upon muscular strength and mas- 
culine decision under stress of war’s alarms. 

Beth rallied somewhat to her colors, at least to her 
sense of the flag’s protection. 

“ It’s awful,” she said. “ It made me feel faint for a 
minute to think of Uncle Jim and Aunt Alida over 
there, with a war breaking out around them. But they 
won’t hurt Americans. Why should they want to? 
We aren’t at war with them, and they wouldn’t dare, 
because our government would punish them if an 
American were harmed. We may have to wait longer 
to see them, but Uncle Jim and Aunt Alida will come 
home, safe and sound ! Is it much of a war, Mr. Leon- 
ard ? How can it be, when nobody knew it was com- 
ing ? What is it all about ? ” 

“I suppose somebody, several bodies, did know it 
was coming, Beth. And, yes, it will probably be a 
great war ; it may last months. I doubt if anybody 
could tell you what it was all about. Whatever pre- 
texts may be given for it the underlying reason is eco- 
nomic — if you know what that means. The struggle 
for food, space, the means to live,” said Kobert sadly. 
“ Now, who can say that human life and the events of 
life are not one great chain ? Here are you, four young 
Americans, in this far-off Massachusetts village, cast 


MESSAGE PEOM MAES»' 193 

down and made anxious, directly affected by the fact 
that Germany is moving on France, to try to finish the 
work of her victory over her neighbor in 1870 ! ” 

“ Oh, dear, oh, dear ! ” cried Beth, suddenly over- 
whelmed by two new thoughts. “ And we got such 
help from France in the Kevolution ! And, oh, the 
prince, our prince ! Will he go to war ? ” 

For a moment the three Cortlandts and Beth stared 
at one another horrified. 

“ Not unless England is involved. Then — maybe ! ” 
said Kobert. 

“ Well, it can be quite dreadful to have a friend in 
one of the royal family, after all,” said Beth with 
pained conviction. 

“ It wouldn’t be any easier if he were plain Tommy 
Atkins, if we loved him and he went to war,” Natalie 
reminded her. 

“ Or Alphonse, or Hans,” added Alys, with an in- 
stinct of justice and strict neutrality. 

“ Of course. It’s Uncle Jim and Aunt Alida we’re 
frightened about now, and they are Americans ! But 
it’s terrible to think of a prince you know and care 
about riding at the head of his men into danger ! I 
must unharness and feed Trump,” said Beth, so soberly, 
so unconscious of her descent from the sublime to the 
commonplace that the others could not help laughing. 

“ I’ll put up your great Norman percheron, Beth ; 
feed him, too ! And I doubt your prince riding in 
the old picturesque way at the head of his troops ; 
they fight differently now,” smiled Kobert Leonard. 


194 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


« Try not to worry, Miss ISTatalie, all of you. I think 
Beth is right and that American citizens will not be 
bothered over there, though it may prove inconvenient 
for them to be within the war belt. Here comes your 
friend Janie, Beth.” 

Janie Little came across from the house looking more 
cast down than the group she approached. Beth ran to 
meet her. 

“ Oh, Janie,” she cried, “ there is a war begun in 
Europe, and Uncle Jim and Aunt Alida can’t come 
home yet. They can’t get home ! Isn’t that awful ? ” 

“ They will,” said Janie, plainly thinking of some- 
thing more engrossing. “You’ve got to come with 
me, Beth ; I need you.” 

“ How ? Before dinner ? Have you had yours, 
Janie ? I haven’t,” said Beth. 

“ Couldn’t you take it in your hand, something, and 
come ? ” asked Janie. 

“ I’d rather take it into my mouth ; I’m hungry.” 
Beth laughed a little. But seeing that Janie was des- 
perately in earnest, she agreed to do as she was asked, 
in true Beth-readiness to help. 

“ All right. I’ll get a glass of milk and biscuits and 
take cookies along. You eat your dinner, Hatalie and 
Alys and Dirk. Are you — won’t you stay here, Mr. 
Leonard?” Beth found it exceedingly embarrassing 
to fulfil her responsibilities as the Head of the House. 

“ Ho, thank you, Beth. I’m off to my nice old inn, 
as soon as I attend to Trump,” Bob Leonard said. 
“ Dirk, are you willing to give me this afternoon out 


MESSAGE FEOM MARS'' 


195 


of your valuable time? I have a trip in view that 
includes a swim." 

“ Surest thing you know ! " agreed Dirk. ‘‘ I can’t 
get hold of Oliver, Janie. What’s he up to ? " 

“ Please let Beth have her dinner first, Janie. It 
won’t take long ; we’ll all hurry. She needn’t wait for 
us, but she’s been up since five and has driven Miss 
Tappan somewhere, rather far. Couldn’t you wait for 
her ? ’’ Natalie begged. 

“ Oh, I suppose a little longer won’t matter so much," 
said Janie reluctantly. 

“ I will go right away, if you think it does matter, 
Janie,” said Beth, as she put her arm around her chum 
and, asking the others to excuse them, went toward the 
house. It seemed certain to Beth that Janie was not 
like her old self. 

Beth ate a light meal so quickly that it surely could 
not have taken time valuable to Janie’s plan, whatever 
that might be. The two little girls were soon going 
down the street at a pace defiant of the heat. 

“We are going up to the Branch, to the mill," an- 
nounced Janie after they had gone a little distance. 

Beth stopped short, surprised. “We are!" she 
cried. “ Then why in the world didn’t you go out the 
back door and right up through the fields ? Why are 
you going around Robin Hood’s barn to get there — 
this hot day ? ” 

“ Because I don’t want any one to know where we 
are going," said Janie, pulling Beth’s sleeve. “ Don’t 
stop like this ; what’ll people think ? Something has 


196 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


happened and nobody but you is to know. You’re the 
only one can help — if you can.” 

“ Why, Janie ! Why, for pity’s sake, Janie ! ” cried 
Beth. “ It sounds — like mystery ! ” 

“ We’ll turn up this side street and cut back across to 
your wood road,” said Janie, ignoring Beth’s comment. 
“ Then it won’t be so awfully much farther. I’m going 
to buy some cinnamon buns at that little bake shop on 
this street ; Noll loves ’em so.” 

“ Noll loves them ! Oh, you’ll take them home — but 
why don’t you get them when you come back, not carry 
them around so long ? ” asked puzzled Beth. 

“ You’ll see,” said Janie darkly. 

Beth gave up guessing, or trying to learn from Janie 
what was in the wind. They kept on up the narrow 
side street which sheltered but one shop, a small 
bakery on the lower floor of a private house. Here 
Janie bought a dozen of the home-made cinnamon buns 
for which the shop was famous in Chilton, and went on, 
redolent of cinnamon and fresh sweet dough. 

The remainder of the distance Beth and Janie ac- 
complished almost in silence. There was a stronger 
breeze blowing along the small branch of the river than 
down in the village. It was a temptation to sit by the 
banks of the Branch. 

“ I’m glad we came — unless it’s about something too 
awful,” sighed Beth. “ It always makes me think of 
‘ By cool Siloam’s shady rill ’ up here, doesn’t it you ? ” 

“We always used to be off like this alone. I 
wouldn’t care what happened if we could be again,” 


‘‘ A MESSAGE FEOM MAES ’’ 


197 


said Janie gloomily. And suddenly Beth saw what had 
been wrong with her best friend that summer ; she held 
the clue to the change in Janie. “ Come into the 
mill,” Janie said when Beth did not answer, still con- 
sidering Janie’s previous remark. 

The big mill was cool and inviting. On the sides 
were its long-empty bins, dusty and cobwebby. The 
hopper in the centre still stood ; the wheels for the belt 
were denuded and long motionless ; the floor dusty ; 
many of the small panes in the windows were gone, but 
there was a great attraction in the outlived monument 
to past usefulness and noble forgiveness. Beth always 
fancied she could distinguish the odor of old sweet 
meal and hear the rattle of the old windlass hauling up 
grist for grinding from a wagon drawn up at the front, 
below the square door in the upper story, where the 
loads of grist had once been stored. 

Janie whistled, a low, soft note, thrice repeated — has 
any one ever decided why a signal must almost invari- 
ably be repeated thrice ? Janie’s note was echoed and 
the door that led into the small office, in which the 
miller had once kept his accounts, opened, and Oliver 
Little came out. 

“ Hallo, Beth,” he said, trying to speak easily, but 
notably failing. “ Janie said she’d bring you.” 

“ She did,” Beth unnecessarily informed him. She 
stared at Holl with all her might. He looked worn 
out ; there were dark circles under his eyes and a swol- 
len mark all across one cheek, as though made by a 
lash. 


198 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


“ Mother thinks I’m at East Chilton, visiting a fellow 
there,” Noll said. “ But I was here all night. Oh, 
say, Janie, that certainly does look good to me ! ” Noll 
interrupted himself to exclaim as Janie offered him the 
bag of buns. “ Excuse me, Beth, if I seem to eat ; I’ve 
had nothing since yesterday noon. Have a bit ? ” Noll 
proffered the bag to Beth, politely. 

“ No, indeed — thank you,” said Beth. “ What can 
have happened, Noll ? Do hurry and tell ! ” 

“ As I was saying,” Noll resumed then, “ I started for 
East Chilton yesterday. I came up here to get a model 
Dirk and I had been tinkering on to take with me. 
Look at this, Beth ! ” 

Noll produced from under a bag a silver porringer. 
Beth cried out : 

“ Aunt Bebecca’s porringer ! ” and Noll nodded 
hard. 

“ That is what is called by professional gentlemen 
the swag, Bethie,” he said. “ I’ve got the professional 
gentleman in there.” He motioned backward with his 
head toward the office. “ I came into the mill, not 
suspecting anything, not trying to come quietly, but I 
had on rubber soles, so I suppose I did sort of pussy- 
cat in. And there sat a robber, counting his robs, 
or a burglar counting his burgs, or — well, I’m not 
as funny as I’d like to be ! What I want to tell 
you is that here sat a chap going over some 
silver and things which looked mighty like stolen 
to me. He jumped up and pitched into me. Mr. 
Leonard has been giving me some points, but I’m not 


“A MESSAGE FEOM MAES'' 


199 


old enough to have beaten the fellow — though he’s 
young, but he’s over twenty — if he hadn’t dropped into 
that hole in the floor over there and so given me a 
chance. I lassoed him. He’s still lassoed in there. 
That’s why I had to spend the night here ; I couldn’t 
leave him to unlasso himself. I sat on him all night 
with a stick ready to knock him senseless if he wiggled. 
He didn’t, not more than anybody would with a boy on 
top of him and a hard floor under him. While it was 
light and I had him lassoed, I looked at the silver and, 
behold, it was Bristead stuff. Oh, yes ; here’s where 
Janie came in ! She had a plan to bring Miriam up 
here this afternoon, so she came up to see if we had 
left the chariot here ; she couldn’t find Dirk — chariot 
either ! She pretty nearly died when she found me, 
so it may be a good thing she didn’t find what she was 
looking for, too ! She put the silver into the bin and 
under that bag for me, in case some one happened in, 
and she promised to bring you. That’s all.” 

“ Of course it isn’t all ! ” cried Beth. “ Why didn’t 
you call and call for help ? Or why didn’t you let 
Janie bring some one here to arrest the man ? To 
think, Oliver Little, that you stayed here all alone, 
hungry, with a robber ! A boy about Alys’ age ! And 
the man is in there now ? ” Beth dropped her voice 
and shuddered. 

“ Beth, you’re going to be a lawyer — maybe ! ” said 
Holl. “ How, here’s why I didn’t do any of those sen- 
sible things. I thought maybe it would be better not 
to arrest the thief, not to let any one know about this.” 


200 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ Why ? ” cried Beth. “We might all be murdered ! 
I wonder when he got into our house, and how I ” 

“ Two nights ago, through a window Ella left up for 
Tabby to get in and out,” IS’oll promptly explained. 
“ He didn’t know why it was open, but I did ; it’s the 
one you always leave up ” 

“In the storeroom, where mice come,” said Beth. 
“ Why shouldn’t he be arrested, 'Noll ? ” 

“ Because he is Sam Gaines,” said JSToll very low. 

“ Oh, Holl ! Oh, dear me, Noll ! ” murmured Beth, 
thoroughly shocked. 

Noll nodded. “ Tough on Mrs. Gaines, isn’t it ? 
Cripple daughter and this her oldest son ! Nice soul 
she is, too ! Sam has been going wrong this good 
while ; I’ve heard father talk about it. But I guess 
this is the first time he’s done anything like this. He 
drinks a lot. He was ready to do me up, all right, but 
of course he wanted to get off.” Noll’s hand involun- 
tarily went up to his cheek and Beth drew in her 
breath sharply, realizing that Noll had been very brave 
and in danger, alone, at close quarters with a grown 
man, mad to escape. 

“ Oh, if only Aunt Kebecca were here ! ” Beth sur- 
prised herself with a sob. “ How can I be Miss Bris- 
tead and know what to do with a thief ? And you 
aren’t much older, Noll ! ” 

“ Well, Beth, see here,” said Noll gently. “ It’s right 
to protect your own village and see that rascals are 
brought to justice, provided harm will come and no 
good of being merciful. But I talked with Sam — to 


MESSAGE FEOM MAES’» 


201 


the tune of ‘ All Through the Night,’ you know, while 
I sat on him, and I don’t believe he’s all to the bad. I 
honestly think I’d give him a chance this time.” 

“ Well, I’m sure I’d rather,” sighed Beth. “ Is it for 
me to say ? ” 

“ It’s your silver ; it was your house he entered,” re- 
plied Noll. 

“ Doesn’t that sound just like tolled bells ! ” cried 
Beth. “ I’m not twelve years old. I’m not more fit 
to own anything than a baby ! Let him go, then. 
Tell him we want to let him go so he can be a comfort, 
not a sorrow, to his mother and poor, crippled Miriam.” 

“ You must tell him yourself, Beth,” said Noll, 
shrewdly aware of the value of Beth’s sweet face and 
voice, the lovableness that seemed to flow out from her, 
one could not precisely explain how. 

“ Oh-h-h ! Oh ! ” groaned poor Beth, but she touched 
her ring and followed Noll into the small room, Janie 
timidly, yet resolutely, following her. 

“ Hallo, Beth Bristead ! ” said the prisoner as Noll 
unlocked the door and revealed him. 

“ Hallo, Sam,” said Beth. Then a great wave of 
pity came over her as she thought of his mother and 
Miriam and of him, worse crippled than his sister. 
Tears sprang into her beautiful eyes and her lips 
quivered. She looked so pretty that Sam was touched. 
“ Oh, Sam, poor Sam, I’m so sorry ! ” Beth said. “ Aunt 
Kebecca always used to send you things and try to help 
you, didn’t she ? And now she’s dead and there’s only 
me — just Beth, and I can’t help you at all ! Please, 


202 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Sam dear, don’t make things harder for your mother ! 
Miriam is so sad and your mother tries so hard ! If 
you want anything as much as you did the other night, 
if you’ll come tell me I’ll try to help. Aunt Eebecca 
could, but I’ll do my best. Please, please, brace up, 
poor Sam ! ” 

“ Not goin’ to pinch me, Beth ? ” asked Sam. 

Beth shook her head. “ I couldn’t see the one Aunt 
Kebecca used to get to make her garden and do odd 
jobs for her in prison, Sam ! Miriam’s helpless, but 
it’s worse not to walk straight than not to walk, isn’t 
it, Sam ? Do you think you can get on better now, 
Sam ? Aunt Kebecca would be so glad if you said you 
would ! To me, you know, because I’m sort of in her 
place.” Beth’s voice thrilled with her pleading, as if 
it were for herself she begged. 

“ Gosh, Beth, I’ll try, honest ! ” said Sam. ‘‘ I’ll get 
out of here for a while, an’ try to shake a gang I’ve 
went with. I’ll — I’ll remember this, Beth Bristead. 
You always was the nicest kid I ever see.” 

‘‘ If you could — if you would come around after sup- 
per, Sam, I’ve a little money Aunt Kebecca left in a 
letter for me to use. I think she meant me to use it for 
some one else. I’ll give it to you to go away, if you’ll 
let me. You can call it another present from Aunt 
Kebecca ; she used to give you neckties and things, 
didn’t she ? Please come to get the money to start 
new ; she’d like that, I know,” Beth said softly. 

‘‘ Oh, gee, Beth ! ” Sam actually sobbed. “ You, you 
— little thing, you ! ” 


‘‘A MESSAGE FROM MARS” 


203 


Noll helped Sam to divest himself of the rope which 
still hung around his neck, tight drawn in a noose, hor- 
ribly suggestive. 

“ Sorry about your cheek, Noll,” said Sam, awk- 
wardly. “I didn’t know how ’twould be if you got 
me. I’ll come to-night, Beth.” He slunk away and 
the three children, who had singularly been the means 
of checking his first plunge into absolute ruin, watched 
him go with hope and fear. 

“ We’ll keep this to ourselves,” said Noll. “ I’ll 
have to teU father and mother, or goodness knows what 
they’d think about this cheek. But there it stops. 
Good little Bethie ! ” 

Beth smiled up at the tall boy, who seemed so much 
older than she was, though there was not three years’ 
difference in their ages. She wondered how she could 
have considered Oliver Little such a nuisance and Janie 
to be pitied for having him as a brother. Of course 
Noll had only lately given up tormenting them, but he 
surely was a fine lad ! 

“Noll, isn’t it perfectly beautiful? I’ve — you and 
I, for it really was more you — have been able to for- 
give an enemy and give him a start in life, right here 
in Isaiah Bristead’s old mill ! Almost as if the mill 
just ground out loveliness ! ” Beth’s eyes were still 
dewy, but they shone starlike through the mist on their 
lashes. 

“ That’s right, Bethie ! It is a mill of love-of-your- 
neighbor, isn’t it ? I’m glad Sam’s got his chance ; 
maybe he’ll use it. Lucky thing he began to steal 


204 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


where he did!” Noll smiled back very kindly on 
Janie’s best beloved playmate. 

“Let’s go home,” said Janie. “You come home 
with us, Beth. You never come alone any more. I’d 
like to know if you’re never going to be the same, just 
with us ? ” 

“ I’ll be it now ; I’ll go home with you,” said Beth, 
her arm instantly around Janie. “Noll, there’s war in 
Europe ! ” 

“ Honest ? ” cried Noll, instantly alert and interested. 

“ Germany and France and maybe more countries,’’ 
Beth assured him. “Began Saturday. And now Uncle 
Jim and Aunt Alida can’t get home, perhaps for a good 
while. Isn’t it awful? The paper says Americans 
over there may be in danger.” 

“ Not much ! ” cried Noll, like a true American boy. 
“ They might have to wait to get away, but nothing 
will happen to them ! They know Uncle Sam too well 
over there to hit one of his children. Then we’d get 
into the war ! Say, I’d like to go if we did ! ” 

“What do you suppose ails boys?” Janie demanded 
of no one in particular. 

“And girls?” added Noll. “Don’t you worry 
about your uncle and aunt, Beth ; they’ll get here all 
right.” 

“ I suppose so,” assented Beth. “ But I do wish they 
would come right away. I feel very shrunk and little, 
with no one older than Natalie belonging to me ! It 
is perfectly dreadful and desolate not to have any one 
you have to mind ! ” 


'‘A MESSAGE FEOM MAES'' 


205 


“ You dear thing ! " said Janie. “ Come and mind 
mother ; she’s a good one to tell you what to do.” 

“ She’s perfectly dear, but if I went to mind her I 
would be choosing to go, and I want some one to be 
right over me. Aunt Eebecca was so fine about not 
letting me have my own way, when I was little, that 
it simply chills me to have it now,” said Beth in all 
seriousness, and with a profound, lonely sigh. 


CHAPTER XII 


INTERNATIONAL COMPLICATIONS 

I j^ATHER always wanted us to read the important 

JT' news in a good newspaper every day. It was 
the hardest job ! Nat and I got out of it most of the 
time. And now we just drag along between the two 
ends of the day, wishing for the paper ! ” Alys sighed 
and shifted her position nervously. 

“ And the worst of it is you can’t find out much 
when they do come,” added Dirk. 

“ Wouldn’t you think they might let the papers tell 
more?” asked Beth. “We’re not in the war and 
American papers might tell us about it, you’d think.” 

“ Of course what was published here would be 
cabled right over to the enemy,” said Natalie. “ I 
suppose they have to censor news, but it certainly 
is hard on any one whose dearest and best are over 
there.” 

“ They tell more than I want to see, only it isn’t 
what we’re waiting to hear about,” said Alys. “ I wish 
we’d never heard about Belgium ! I dream of it and 
think about it all the time. All those homeless people ! 
All those children crying for their mothers and fathers 1 
All those burning houses ! All those brave Belgians 
lying dead and their wives and children driven away, 
206 


INTERNATIONAL COMPLICATIONS 207 


just wanderers, not even able to bury them and live on 
where they had been happy ! Oh, good heavens ! ’’ 

Alys shuddered and her whole body quivered. Beth 
looked at her in wonder. She had always thought 
Alys cold. Evidently she was one of those slow people 
who are not easily stirred, but who, when they are 
stirred, are moved to their depths. Alys’ eyes burned, 
her face was livid. She looked as though she saw, 
actually before her, the agonies of Belgium, of which 
she had been reading. 

‘‘ Better not read the papers, Alys,” Beth suggested. 
“We’ll tell you what they say about Americans de- 
tained there and their chance of getting home. Though 
I suppose it makes us all feel pretty much the same.” 

“ I always wondered how the people at home lived 
through the Civil War,” said Natalie. “ If this is so 
hard on us, to have mama and daddy over there where 
we don’t really believe they can be in danger, and if 
we get perfectly sick and cold reading about splendid, 
tortured little Belgium, what could it have been like 
to have the war your very own, with your dearest 
right in the battles, and sit at home day in and day 
out, cutting, sewing, knitting, waiting for news, news 
that you knew might kill you when it came ? I al- 
ways did say I couldn’t see how people lived, just 
merely lived, through that war ! ” 

“ I know it ! ” Beth endorsed her. “ Aunt Rebecca 
was three years older than you are now, Natalie, when 
Richmond fell. She was older than I am when the 
war began. She used to tell me — sometimes; she 


208 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


didn’t like to talk about it often — what awful stillness 
you could feel in the air, everybody waiting and hold- 
ing their breath. Her mother was the head of the re- 
lief corps here ; the women used to meet in this house 
to get work ready to be given out. Aunt Kebecca had 
a favorite young uncle who was in the war. He came 
home once, but he never came again. He enlisted till 
the end, she said he told her, at the beginning, when 
President Lincoln called for volunteers. And he was 
killed at Antietam. That was her mother’s brother. 
He was just as full of fun as he could be, she said. I 
think that makes it seem sadder. Aunt Rebecca said 
he was so near her age, and so jolly, that he wasn’t 
like an uncle and she always called him Dicksie — his 
name was Dick — and then he died in Dixie, in battle ! 
When people right in your own family are part of 
great days like that, it makes you realize better, doesn’t 
it ? Since this war began in Europe and we’re all wor- 
rying about Uncle Jim and Aunt Alida, and reading 
these perfectly horrible stories about Belgium, I can 
feel myself growing older, can’t you ? That, and Aunt 
Rebecca, and being the only Bristead left, and all ! It’s 
rather an awful summer, isn’t it ? ” Beth’s voice quiv- 
ered as she ended her long speech. 

“ Poor darling little Cozbeth ! It isn’t exactly a 
jolly summer, not a bit the sort of summer we looked 
forward to when we came here, but perhaps it won’t 
seem like an awful summer when we look back on it. 
Serious days are not always awful when you see what 
they mean,” said Natalie wisely, with a gesture invit- 


INTEENATIONAL COMPLICATIONS 209 


ing Beth to curl up beside her on the couch. Beth 
accepted the invitation. “ I think I do feel myself 
growing up, but when we get our blessed and beautiful 
mother and our fine father again, I shall slip right back 
into the old childishness. Sixteen is a good way still 
from young ladyhood,” Natalie added. 

“News to-day I A letter from England ; I don’t 
know the writing, not a Cortlandt hand,” cried Bob 
Leonard coming in unheard, his tennis shoes making no 
sound. 

“ England ! Could it be ” Natalie broke off as 

Kobert handed her the letter. “Oh, it’s from the 
prince ! ” she cried, holding it up. “ Alys, Dirk, it’s 
from the prince ! ” 

Beth was hanging over her shoulder, devouring the 
superscription on the envelope. 

“ Open up ! ” said Dirk, shaking Kobert’s arm as a 
caress. “ That’s the chap I always said was something 
like you,” he added. 

The three girls got together on the sofa, Alys and 
Beth on each side of Natalie, who read aloud for the 
benefit of Kobert and Dirk : 

“ My dear Little American Cousins : — 

“ You will know that trouble has fallen upon us ; 
war, which some of us hoped the world had outgrown, 
but which most of us knew was sure to come again. 
England is obliged to enter the quarrel. And you know 
— Beth will know, for she is so keen for English history 
— Nelson told us that England expected every man to 
do his duty. We can’t disappoint our mother, least of 


210 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


all those born to responsibility toward her, in a special 
way. So we are mobilizing our army and I am going 
to war with my command. 

“ I am moved to tell you this in a few spare moments 
which happen to be mine now — they are few these 
days ! — because I think you will be profoundly and 
lovingly interested in the fact. And though I fancy 
your country will remain neutral, and I hope that she 
may be able to do so, I think her neutrality will not 
forbid four American children from praying every night 
for the prince they know, that he may come out of it 
all, if it is best, but that whatever befalls he may do his 
duty, disgracing neither his country, his rank, nor the 
Order of the Strong Hearted. With the kindest re- 
membrance of you, my quartette of American cousins, 
and in the hope of better days, soon to rise out of the 
bitter ones just ahead of us. Yours faithfully, ‘ Cousin 
Hal.’ Arthur Andrew David Patrick George Henry.” 

“ It sounds like a farewell ! ” cried Alys quivering. 

“ He means it for farewell, if he should fall,” said 
Natalie mournfully. 

“ He won’t fall ! ” cried Beth, enkindled by the very 
same gravity of tone in the letter that depressed the 
others. “ He is going to win glory and victory ! He is 
going to France, just like Prince Hal in Shakespeare — 
Henry the Fifth, — to do great deeds. Oh, and we know 
him ! To think he has written us before he takes the 
field ! To think we are almost right in the story, in 
history ! ” 

She looked around the sitting-room, with the china 
lamb and the china boy and the clock with Time and 
his scythe, as if she expected to see it transfigured. 


INTEE^TATIONAL COMPLICATIONS 211 


hung with banners like a chapel in Westminster Abbey. 
Beth’s veneration, her sense of the romance and glory 
of the past, was a great gift. 

Malvina Mellin had come in as far as the doorway, 
which she now ornamented, with her arm laid up 
against the casement and her cheek resting upon it. 

“ What I’d like to know,” she said, “ is why the 
young man, the prince you say he is, but I’m free to 
confess it’s hard to take it in, why he mentions a whole 
lot of men’s Christian names at the end of his letter ? 
Are they folks you’ve heard tell of, or what ? And 
what about ’em, anyway ? Sounds almost like a count 
for a game.” 

“ Why, no, Malvina ! ” cried Beth. “ Don’t you see ? 
He signed to us ‘ Cousin Hal,’ because he let us call 
him that, to be friendly, the day we rode with him. 
But he has to put his own names, his proper names, 
after that. You always sign your name after a nick- 
name, if you’re writing to any one, not a sister, or some 
one like that.” 

“ His own names ! What, all of ’em ? ” exclaimed 
Malvina. “ I want to know if they went and gave a 
whole city directory to a helpless baby, till he sounds 
like the first chapter of the gospel according to Mat- 
thew ! ” 

“ They always have a lot of names, princesses and 
princes ! ” Beth laughed, as did the others. “ They all 
mean — stand for something. Don’t you see ? There’s 
Arthur, the old kingly name, and then Andrew, David, 
Patrick, George — the patron saints of Scotland, Wales, 


212 


BETH^S OLD HOME 


Ireland, England, because of the United Kingdom, you 
see. And Henry — well, I suppose that’s because of all 
the Henry kings. Isn’t it nice ? ” 

Malvina was not versed in the history of the United 
Kingdom ; she was not enthusiastic. ‘‘ I wonder how 
he marks his trunks ? ” was all she replied to Beth’s de- 
lighted exposition of the prince’s generous naming. “ I 
just came in to tell you, Beth, that your yellow Middy- 
kitten chased out some hens that got into the garden 
for all the world like a dog, and when he’d got ’em as 
far’s the fence he turned and swung himself back, much 
’s to say : They can’t do harm there ; let ’em go dig 
there ’f they want! You’d see he thought he was 
smart the way he swung himself returnin’. And he 
was 1 ” 

With which information Malvina departed as she had 
come. 

“ If a cat may look upon a king, I suppose a yellow 
kitten may intrude upon a prince’s letter ! ” laughed 
Bob Leonard. “ I agree with Beth : it is impressive to 
get into personal touch with the great tragedy of 
Europe. I hope your prince will come out of it safely 
and enter London amid pealing bells and flying banners, 
like Hal the Fifth, if only for your sakes. Kow here’s 
my news, young folks. I had a letter from Mrs. Cort- 
landt ; she is in Paris. I wrote her that I had come 
here to Chilton to see my class of athletes and that I 
was lingering, because I dreaded to leave you after all 
that had happened and with what was happening to 
keep her from you. She says that Mr. Cortlandt has 


INTEENATIONAL COMPLICATIONS 213 


decided to go home by the first ship he can take.” The 
shout that arose over this tidings was worthy of more 
than four throats. “ Wait a minute ! Not Mrs. Cort- 
landt ; Mr. Cortlandt,” Robert warned them. “ Mrs. 
Cortlandt is working with the Americans in Paris to 
relieve the suffering, already great, which must accom- 
pany this war. The American ambassador, Mr. Her- 
rick, is doing all he can for Americans over there, more 
than many another could do, and to help the Belgians 
and the French. Americans are organizing Bed Cross 
work, hospitals, rescue committees for the Belgian chil- 
dren, swept out of homes and loving arms, little victims 
that mailed hands have stricken. Mrs. Cortlandt 
wanted me to tell you. Miss Natalie, that she counts on 
you to be her brave girl and let her stay, to take her 
place with Alys and Dirk and Beth as best you can, 
lending her a little longer to the children whose mothers 
and fathers will not return to them. She says she is 
miserable to know how much you want her now, with 
Aunt Bebecca gone and your summer so altered. 
Especially she longs to return to Beth. But we cannot 
choose our seasons when demands are made upon us 
and she feels that she must ask you to share the world’s 
sacrifices, this summer of the horrible war, and lend her 
for a time. Mr. Cortlandt may arrive any day after a 
week. He was going to England to sail, if a chance 
offered, when Mrs. Cortlandt wrote.” 

A dead silence fell on the little group when Bobert 
ceased to speak. Not one of his audience ventured to 
look at another one ; the eyes were too strained to 


214 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


hold back tears to venture to encounter other sorrow- 
ful eyes. 

“ I don’t want to be a wretch, but I am ! ” said Beth, 
breaking the silence and summing up her natural 
reluctance to sacrifice and protracted loneliness. 

“ I’d be a wretch all right if it would do any good, 
but when mama asks us to lend her, it means she’ll 
stay anyhow,” groaned Dirk. 

Natalie was silent a moment longer ; then she ac- 
cepted the task which her mother had laid upon her. 

“No, you wouldn’t be a wretch, Dirk,” she said 
gently. “ It’s pretty hard ; you know it’s just as hard 
for all of us, but after we had time to think we’d let 
mother stay, if not letting her would bring her back. 
We’ve got to play our part when there’s great trouble 
in the world ; that’s what ‘ the brotherhood of man ’ 
means. I see it for the first time. Think how lucky 
we are to be able to help, not to need help ! Oh, I’m 
glad father is what he is and has so much money ! ” 
cried Natalie, suddenly realizing that great responsi- 
bilities may be great privileges, that in an over- 
burdened world it is a cause for gratitude to be able 
to lift burdens, though the lifting requires strength and 
entails weariness. 

Alys regarded her ring dubiously. “You’d really 
think the prince knew what kind of a summer this was 
going to be when he founded our Order ! I don’t mind 
being quite strong of heart, but I’d rather not have to 
be so strong of heart that it takes every minute of your 
time,” she said, so forlornly, so sincerely unwilling to 


INTEEN A TIONAL COMPLICATIONS 215 


be a heroine, and nothing else, that the others laughed 
and felt better for it. 

Beth sprang to her feet. “ I know ! ” she cried. 
‘‘ The paper said there’d have to be a lot done for the 
soldiers, and the poor Belgians will need clothes, and 
Americans are going to sew and knit for them ! Let’s 
start a society here, right away ! It will make us feel 
better, if we work over here, while Aunt Alida has to 
stay over there and work. I can knit, so can Janie ; 
Janie knits beautifully. And May crochets just as 
even ! I can crochet, too, pretty decently. And we 
can all sew. Lots of people here, any of the girls’ 
mothers, will cut out for us. Let’s be war aids, or 
some nice name. And meet in the mill.” 

“ Why not in the house ? ” asked Dirk. “ No chairs 
in the mill, nor tables, nor anything.” 

“ That’s so.” Beth’s face fell, but she saw that Dirk 
was right. “ I only thought it would be a lovely place 
because it had been built to do good. But we’d have 
to be where we could sit down.” Beth laughed with 
the others, but went on rapidly : “ Do you suppose we 
could buy worsted to knit, cheap, somewhere, Mr. 
Leonard? And, Mr. Leonard, what do I do, now, 
when I have to have money ? I haven’t much left, 
and we — Aunt Rebecca always paid Ella every week, 
Malvina, too, and we’re eating every day.” 

“ Your uncle is your guardian, Beth, but I meant to 
ask you about that to-day. I saw the cashier of your 
aunt’s bank and he said they would let you have 
money, if you would sign receipts for it ; he will ad- 


216 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


vance it to you until Mr. Cortlandt comes to make 
definite arrangements about you. The cashier said 
that he had no hesitation in doing this, for ‘ the little 
Bristead girl would see that he was repaid, sooner or 
later.’ I thought you would be glad to know that 
you enjoyed the confidence of the financiers of your 
country, Beth ! ” and Kobert Leonard smiled at Beth 
fondly. 

“ Oh, that is Mr. Mortimer ! ” exclaimed Beth, as if 
that explained everything. “ He has always known us. 
I didn’t know what a little girl did when she had to 
have money. Aunt Kebecca drew checks and de- 
posited checks when they came. It seems so strange ! 
Aunt Kebecca looked after everything so ! Janie has 
always had more to do with buying and deciding her 
clothes than I have. I imagine I feel about as Middy 
would have felt if Tabby had gone away when he was 
a week old and he had to find his own milk and mice ! 
Well, will you be a society, Hatalie and Alys ? Dirk, 
too, can be in it ? Then, if you will, we’ll go get the 
Chilton girls into it.” 

“ Of course we will, Cozbeth ! It will be good for 
us, as well as the Belgians. Like in the Gloaming: 
‘ Best for you and best for me.’ ” Natalie sang the 
words. “I’ll write to New York, to Oldfellow’s — 
mama has an account there, you know — and I think 
likely they’ll let me have worsted for the war knitting 
cheaper. Aunt Kebecca taught me to knit ; did you 
forget that ? Isn’t it curious how everything has 
happened? We coming here this summer and so you 


lOTEBNATIONAL COMPLICATIONS 217 


are not alone without Aunt Eebecca ! And mama over 
there and able to help travelers, like school teachers on 
their vacations, who can’t get home, and who may 
need a friend badly, when all she thought she went 
over for was to help Aunt Justine! And then the 
prince 1 Knowing him is going to make us feel so 
differently toward the war ! ” 

“Let’s call our society Beth’s Belgian Bees,” said 
Alys, who was not as inclined as were Natalie and 
Beth to philosophize ; she had been going over in her 
mind the problem of a name for their proposed charity 
and the alliterative sound of the one that had just 
occurred to her, with the industrious association of the 
bee, struck her as singularly happy. 

“ Buzz, buzz, buzz ! Buzzy, buzz, buzz ! ” Dirk com- 
mented. 

“Just Belgian Bees, not Beth’s,” said Beth. “It’s 
no more mine than anybody’s. Come with me to find 
the rest of the bodies ! I want to get it started right 
away.” 

“ I’ve got to change my frock ; I spilled chocolate 
on this skirt last night,” said Natalie, rising. “Mr. 
Leonard, will you write mama to-day ? She wrote 
you, and I couldn’t say what I’d rather say, quite yet. 
If you do write will you tell her — tell her we are all 
right, and not to worry about us. We’re well and safe. 
Tell her we are going to be good and try to repay the 
debt we owe France for her revolutionary help. But 
all France sent us was soldiers and Lafayette and 
Comte de Grasse, with the fieet, while we are giving — 


218 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


her ! Tell her I’ll write soon and it is fine she will 
stay. Don’t tell her— she knows it! — we want her, 
want her ! ” 

Natalie’s eyes were dimmed ; she did not see the 
look that leaped into Kobert’s face, but Beth did. 

“ My goodness me ! ” she thought. “ Natalie ! I 
wonder if it could be some day ! I’d love it ! But 
Natalie ! ” 

“ I’ll write your mother to-day. Miss Natalie. The 
mails may be irregular. Try to remember, only, that 
your father will come over very soon,” said Kobert 
gently. 

Natalie managed a smile. “ I know ; I’m truly 
glad,” she said. “ I think you are giving up all your 
vacation plans to stay near us and help us, and you do 
help us lots ! But you must not let us spoil your sum- 
mer, Mr. Leonard.” 

“ I should be unhappy anywhere else if I thought by 
being here I could lighten burdens that must seem 
heavy enough to such unaccustomed little shoulders ! ” 
said Eobert. 

“ I wish I knew how to say thank you ! It seems to 
me no one can say thank you when it is deeply true. 
You can always say it well enough for little things,” 
said Natalie wistfully. She held out her hand with 
the smile that was so like her beautiful mother’s and 
Eobert Leonard, taking the little white hand, was 
probably satisfied with his “ Princess Natalie’s ” thanks. 

Beth forgot all about her glimpse of possible future 
romance when Natalie came down-stairs again and she 


INTEENATIONAL COMPLICATIONS 219 


and Alys joined Beth to go out and beat up recruits for 
a “ ladies’ auxiliary.” 

Mrs. Little was so enthusiastic over the proposition 
that Janie could hardly get in her acceptance of it. 
Though accept she did, and gladly. 

“ I’m just as pleased as I can be with the idea,” Mrs. 
Little cried. ‘‘ I have a whole piece of nice cotton 
cloth that I’ll give you, and I’ll cut it into garments 
for you. I guess we’ll have to make them a generous 
size ; I believe women over there grow stout — unless 
these poor things are starved thin. And Mr. Little’s 
sister is married to a man whose brother is the head of 
a great yarn concern. ITl write my sister-in-law to 
write her brother-in-law — sounds like an endless chain, 
doesn’t it ? — to ask him to sell Janie’s society worsted 
at wholesale rates. I think it’s line for you girls to 
get to work ! Don’t worry about your mother, Natalie 
and Alys. Nothing will happen to her and she’ll be 
able to help there. My ! If such evil days have to 
dawn on the world, isn’t it a joy to know the United 
States can stand outside of the wickedness of war, but 
get right into the chance it gives to do good ? ” 

“ Come with us to ask the rest, Janie,” said Beth. 

“ All right,” Janie replied promptly. She seemed 
more like herself than she had of late, perhaps because, 
in her quiet way, she was so interested in the proposed 
society as to forget herself. 

“ I wish Miriam could do something ; she’d love to,” 
said Janie. “ But she can’t sit up to work.” 

Then it was that Alys had an inspiration. ‘‘ Let her 


220 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


read to us while we work and we could pay her ten 
cents an hour, or more, and she could give the money. 
She could read something we ought to learn, like his- 
tory, or real improving books, and in that way it would 
help, too ; help us.” 

“ Miriam probably can’t read fast ; she never could 
go to school. Her mother taught her as well as she 
could between all the work she did. I know she used 
to hear Miriam read while she did housework,” said 
Janie. “ It’s a fine plan, Alys, but Miriam would be 
scared.” 

“ So much the more reason for practicing,” main- 
tained Alys, more and more pleased with her own sug- 
gestion as she dwelt on it. “ We’ll get Miriam to read 
easy things which she ought to know about and which 
she’ll love, and we’ll pay her, so she can give the 
money, and she’ll never know we’re killing two birds 
with one stone.” 

“ Maybe she will feel as though she were one of the 
birds getting killed,” laughed Beth. “Janie and I 
know Miriam ! But we’ll try it. She mustn’t suspect, 
though. It is a fine plan, Alys. We seem to be 
sliding right into doing good. I always thought it was 
hard. It seems to be as easy ! and to spread — like 
melted butter ! ” 

“ Planning is always easy, Bethikins ; we haven’t 
begun the doing yet,” warned Natalie. “ What are 
the boys to do ? Janie’s Oliver and our Dirk ? ” 

“ I was thinking,” said Janie, ready with her answer. 
“ I don’t see why they couldn’t run a sewing machine. 


INTEENATIONAL COMPLICATIONS 221 


They love machines, and lots of men are tailors. And 
Noll can whittle the cutest winders for thread, to 
save bastings, you know ; he makes them for mother. 
Maybe he would make them to sell. People would buy 
them to help out.” 

“ My goodness ! ” cried Beth delighted. “We shall 
be a whole factory, all kinds of factories before we get 
through ! ” 

All the Chilton girls of Beth’s particular set. May, 
Kuth, Edith, Daisy and Nellie, joined the Belgian Bees 
the moment they heard them hum, so to speak. It was 
an organized society before supper, with Natalie as 
president, Alys, treasurer, Beth, secretary, and with 
two auxiliary members, Oliver and Dirk. The first 
meeting was called for the next afternoon. 

Beth and Janie went to see Miriam without the 
others. It was understood among them that Miriam 
considered Beth Bristead the dearest girl in all the world 
and that she liked Janie Little next to Beth. It was 
not easy to persuade Miriam to read aloud to the so- 
ciety, especially to “ the New York girls,” but Beth 
convinced her that it was her duty to sacrifice herself 
for starving Belgium children and Miriam yielded in 
her own way at last. 

“ I s’pose, as long as I’m a cripple, it’s up to me to 
help girls who’ve lost worse than I have. At least I’ve 
got my home and enough to eat and nobody’s come 
and shot my mother for trying to keep them out, as 
she’d have been sure to do if they’d tried to come in 
here and take our cow,” she said. “ But it’s a queer 


222 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


thing you can’t sew and knit without hearing stories 
read.” 

“ We’ve got to raise all the money we can, every one 
of us ; you, too,” said Janie. 

And this sounded so well, and was so true, that it 
was only after she and Beth had gone that Miriam be- 
thought herself of saying that they could perfectly well 
contribute, without conditions, the money they were to 
pay her for reading to them. 

The organizing of the Belgian Bees was a matter of 
such interest that it tided over the first hours of re- 
linquishing Mrs. Cortlandt for an indefinite time to 
the work in aid of stricken Europe. But that night, 
after the old house was still, every one gone to bed 
and, presumably, to sleep, when the soft sounds of the 
August night drifted in through the open windows on 
the light breeze that stirred the curtains, the penetrat- 
ing shrillness of the cricket orchestra, the occasional 
note of a waking bird, Beth lay broad awake, staring 
at the stars out of her raised window. How strangely 
Aunt Kebecca had gone, so swiftly, so suddenly ! Some- 
where beyond those stars she was living, but Beth, 
here in her old home, could not follow her, nor con- 
ceive of what she saw. And now Aunt Alida, so 
differently absent, not gone forever, yet, in a sense, 
perhaps farther off, where was she, in what scene ? 
Neither of her could Beth form a picture. Both 
seemed separated from her by immeasurable space. 
Beth got up and crept to her cousins’ room to find 
Natalie and Alys, as she had expected to find them. 


INTEENATIONAL COMPLICATIONS 223 


quietly crying. She curled herself down between them 
and they comforted one another. 

Thus, far away, not only from the scene of war, but 
from the great world, from which she had ever held 
delicately aloof, Chilton shared in and suffered with 
Europe in the devastation fallen upon her. So far- 
reaching are the consequences of all human events, 
so remote the tiny objects which are chilled by the 
waves that circle outward from the rocks which des- 
tiny hurls. 


CHAPTEE XIII 


THE STRONG HEARTED 


“ UST this once, just to begin, let’s meet in the mill,” 



Beth implored. “ I’ve always thought so much 
about the mill and Isaiah Bristead ; I’d love to begin 
war sewing there.” 

“ Sentiment is all right, Cozbeth, but chairs are truly 
better when it comes to sewing,” suggested Natalie. 
Yet, seeing Beth’s disappointed face, she quickly 
added : “We ought to be able to get on for once, 
though. We can carry blankets up from the barn and 
sit, tailor fashion, on the floor. We couldn’t accom- 
plish as much, but this is only the beginning, anyway.” 

“ Our feet would get in the way of a feat — in sew- 
ing ? ” asked Beth. “ It’s so lovely up there ; the 
Branch — the Timlee — babbles so ! ” 

“ So that we won’t have to babble so much, do you 
mean ? ” said Alys. 

The boys had gone to fetch Miriam in the chariot 
and the other girl members were assembling at the 
old Bristead house, where they expected to work. 
But Beth’s wishes being conceded, they all set out 
for the mill, up through the fields of overripe grass. 

“ Mr. West is going to cut this and let me have half 
of the hay, but he doesn’t get here. It’s easy to see 


224 


THE STRONG HEARTED 


225 


Aunt Rebecca isn’t here. She could make people cut 
hay the very minute it was ripe, while it was juicy. 
I don’t believe I ever could, even if I were grown up.” 
Beth looked worried over her own deficient character. 

“ Get some one else,” advised practical Janie. 

“ How could I, if I’d promised it to Amos West ? ” 
asked Beth. 

“ Mercy me, Beth, didn’t he promise to do it while 
it was some good ? Well, then ! Just let some one 
else cut it and put the whole of it in your barn and 
then you sell all you want to in the winter. No sense 
in your keeping a promise all alone ; you show him 
you know what’s right. Then another year whoever 
you have’ll keep his word to you. My mother says it’s 
best to stand by agreements — both ways ! ” said Janie. 

“ I can see that’s true,” sighed Beth. “ We’ve had 
so many showers the grass isn’t spoiled. I think it is 
quite hard to amount to so much in the world ! You’d 
be a great deal better than I am to be the last Bris- 
tead, Janie. I don’t know where I’d get any one to 
make the hay.” 

“ You thought it wonderful to find Nat and me 
talking French to our maid in New York. It sounds 
queer enough to hear you and Janie talking farming,” 
remarked Alys. 

“ People do talk ever so many different things, even 
when it’s all English, don’t they ? ” cried Beth, bright- 
ening, as she always did when a thought struck her. 
“ It must sound from heaven like an orchestra, all the 
horns and violins and instruments playing different 


226 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


parts, but making one piece — or like a chorus ; more 
like a chorus, because that’s voices.” 

“ Bethikins, you dear, queer, old-fashioned, darling 
Beth ! What nice odd things you do say — for a round, 
rosy eleven-year-old cousin ! ” cried Natalie stopping to 
regard Beth with wondering affection. “ It is all the 
old Bristead house and the books in it and Chilton 
itself and Aunt Bebecca ! I understand it as I never 
did till I came here.” 

Beth had borrowed a toy cart from her nearest child 
neighbor to carry the work materials which had to be 
transported to the mill for this first meeting of the 
Belgian Bees. She was pulling this cart, with Janie 
helping her with the other half of the cross bar of its 
handle. Janie went along as happy as a cricket be- 
cause she and Beth were together, sharing this duty. 
Little dog Cricket was also trotting along cheerfully, 
extremely interested in possible woodchucks and rabbits 
around the fragrant clumps of sweet fern and bay berry 
bushes which studded these upland meadows. 

The chariot with its one passenger, the express cart 
with its many bundles of yarn, outing flannel and 
white cloth, arrived almost at the same instant at the 
mill door. The girls waited only three or four minutes 
for the boys to arrive with Miriam. 

“ I don’t want to read,” Miriam called as soon as she 
was within calling distance. “ I’ve been thinking ; I’ll 
pull out bastings, instead.” 

“ No,” Beth insisted. “ We’ve brought a lovely 
book; it’s Andrew Lang’s Blue Fairy Book. You’ll 


THE STRONG HEARTED 


227 


surely love it, Miriam. There are lots of his fairy 
books, all colors; the only thing we couldn’t decide 
was which color to take, so we shut our eyes and took 
the one we touched, on the bookcase shelf. It’s the 
blue one, and we thought we’d like to hear ‘ The Story 
of Pretty Goldilocks.’ ” 

Miriam made a face. “ I wouldn’t want to read if 
you’d touched a bright plaid book,” she declared. 

Oliver and Dirk, Natalie helping, carried Miriam into 
the mill. Beth and Janie and Edith, sitting on the 
floor, made themselves into a couch to receive her until 
the boys could get the chariot up the steps for her to 
lie in. 

“Wouldn’t you like to be me?” demanded Miriam, 
with a touch of bitterness that she rarely betrayed. 
“ Bothering people, or else just going to pieces where 
you were, like an old log in a swamp ? ” 

“ Oh, Miriam ! ” cried two or three of the girls 
together in distress. “No, dear, we wouldn’t like to 
be lame, but you certainly don’t bother anybody ; we 
all perfectly love to help you come with us,” added 
Janie, who had been one of those who had exclaimed. 

“Because you’re kind. Liking to have people be- 
cause you’re sorry for them, and wanting them to have 
fun with, is pretty different — for the other one, any- 
way ! ” Miriam persisted. 

“ Miriam,” said Beth gently, “ the doctors said, you 
know, that perhaps if you would try to walk, you 
could. They said you were afraid to try, but if you 
dared try you’d most likely go right on improving. 


228 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Even if you had to use crutches, think how nice it 
would be to walk ! Couldn’t you get up courage, don’t 
you suppose? We’d help you. You could practice 
when you were out. Think how perfectly splendid it 
would be to surprise your mother ! ” 

“ Of course I’m afraid to try,” Miriam said promptly. 
“ I never walked in my life, except when I learned, not 
since I was three. If I even think of standing up, with 
my head straight up in the air, instead of on a pillow, 
and my backbone holding me I get right down sick / I 
feel like a tissue paper doll dipped in ice water ! You’d 
be frightened to death, too, any of you, if you were like 
me and thought of trying to stand. I couldn’t walk ! 
I couldn’t stand. I can tell if I try to move my feet I 
couldn’t ! ” 

“ I^ever mind, Miriam,” said Beth soothingly ; Miriam 
was flushed with excitement. “What they said was 
that you’d need a shock to start you. But it’s ever so 
much better than it was ; you can go out in the chariot, 
anyway. Do look at Janie and Kuth! They aren’t 
going to lose an instant ! ” 

Janie and Ruth were unrolling the bundles of gar- 
ments and packages of warm wools, serviceable grays 
and browns, among reds and blues, delving into them 
like Cricket when he thought he had a squirrel, which 
all the time was scolding him above his head. 

“ There’s a note here from mother. I wonder why 
she didn’t tell me what she wanted to say ! ” Janie 
unpinned a folded sheet of paper from a package and 
held it up. 


THE STEONG HEAETED 


229 


“ Eead it ! ” cried the society. 

'‘‘Dear Bees: — Don’t sting me! We — Mrs. Patton, 
Mrs. Thayer and I — stitched up these garments for you 
on our machines. We thought it would hasten the 
work. You’ll have all you want to do to finish them 
and sew on buttons and make buttonholes. Please re- 
gard us as a sort of honeycomb and go on making 
honey, like industrious bees, without indignant hum- 
ming. Yours respectfully. The Comb Prepared for 
the Belgian Bees, Mary Little, Ellen Patton, Emily 
Thayer. Per M. L.” 

“Well, I must say that is a relief!” cried Alys. 
“ That hard muslin hurts the hands ; we sewed some 
of it for charity one Lent — don’t you remember, Nat- 
alie ? It’s terrible to sew it by hand. I didn’t say 
anything before, but I didn’t see how we could do it. 
And I can’t knit or crochet. I’m thankful your mother 
stitched it, Janie.” 

“ I sort of thought myself maybe there’d be peace 
before we got much made,” admitted Janie. 

“ Peace before pieces,” said Beth. “ I always said 
Mrs. Little was the nicest kind of a mother — Mrs. 
Patton and Edith’s mother, too, did this,” added Beth 
hastily, seeing the twins and Edith getting ready to 
assert their mothers’ claims. “Now we must wind 
worsted first, we knitters arid crocheters, and cast on 
seventy-five stitches for a scarf, Ella told me, on the 
size needles we have. Then Miriam can read. The 
boys might wind all the rest of the worsted this after- 
noon ; their work isn’t here.” 


230 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ See here, Beth, theyTl be sending for you to plan 
campaigns, instead of knitting for the war ! I didn’t 
know you could be such a director. Hand over your 
skeins, then ! ” said Noll. “ Nice place to wind worsted, 
without a chair back to put it on ! ” 

“ I’d trade jobs with anybody,” said Miriam. “ Let’s 
have the book, then ! ” 

Work began in earnest, thimbles appeared, needles 
were threaded, buttons began to get fast on garments, 
knitting-needles painfully waved, while tense throats 
whispered : “ One, two, three,” etc., as stitches were 
slowly cast on by knitters to whom beginning a piece 
of work was still formidable. 

“ ‘ And when he heard all that was said about pretty 
Goldilocks, though he had never seen her, he fell so 
deeply in love with her that he could neither eat nor 
drink. So he resolved to send an am-base-a-door,’ ” 
Miriam read slowly and paused to struggle with this 
unknown word, “ ‘ to ask her in marriage. He had a 

splen-did carriage made for his ’ What did you 

say that was ? ” Miriam looked at Natalie. “ ‘ Am- 
bassador,” ’ she repeated after Natalie, “ ‘ for his am- 
bassador, and gave him more than a hundred horses 
and a hundred servants and told him to bring the 
princess back with him. After he had started nothing 
else was talked of at court, and the king felt so sure 
that the princess would consent that he set his people 
to work at pretty dresses and splendid furniture, that 
they might be ready by the time she came.’ ” 

“ Something like us,” said Edith, as Miriam paused. 


THE STEONG HEAETED 


231 


a little weary over her unaccustomed effort. “ Only 
our pretty dresses are cotton petticoats and gray out- 
ing flannel waists.” 

Beth laughed. “We really ought to make furniture, 
if we were going to keep on meeting here ! ” she cried. 
“Just wait one minute, Miriam, will you? I think I 
see a bird’s nest over there.” 

She ran across the great bare room, that had been 
the mill, and made a little leap to reach a low rafter. 
It had been many a day since old Isaiah Bristead had 
built the mill to benefit the man who had wronged 
him and, strong though its timbers were, there were a 
few weakened places in them that could not be seen. 
Beth alighted upon one of these after she had jumped 
for — and missed — the bird’s nest. There was a crack- 
ing sound, a crash, and Beth fell backward, disappear- 
ing into the shaft. Some one screamed, but no one 
moved. Alys jammed her ten fingers into her mouth, 
biting down upon them. Natalie’s hands extended like 
claws and stiffened thus. The boys, Dirk and Noll, for 
a moment could not stir hand nor foot. And in that 
moment the miracle happened. Miriam adored Beth ; her 
anguish was greater than her fear to move. The shock 
that the doctors had said was required to raise her upon 
her feet had come. Miriam rose up and walked. Only a 
few steps, but she walked ! Her marvelous feat was 
scarcely less overwhelming than Beth’s accident. All the 
girls sprang up, and Natalie put her arms around Miriam 
as she swayed, steadying her, holding her upright. Oliver 
and Dirk rushed over to where Beth had gone down. 


232 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ Beth ! Oh, Beth ! ” cried Dirk, such agony in his 
voice that unless Beth were dead she must have re- 
sponded. 

And she was not dead. ‘‘Fish me out, Dirk,” she 
cried from the darkness below. “I’m sort of folded 
up. I feel blood, but it doesn’t hurt. Can you get 
me?” 

“ You bet ! ” cried Noll, already unfastening the rope 
from the chariot. “Who can hold me? I’m going 
down there to boost her up,” said Noll. “ She may be 
caught, or broken, or something. You all catch hold 
of this rope ; it’ll hold all right.” As he talked Noll 
had made the rope fast around his body. Then he 
climbed on a rafter and let himself swing down. 
“ Good enough,” he said. “ You hold me, all of you, 
while I dive for Beth.” 

“ I’d like to go,” observed Dirk, but Noll ignored 
him. 

Noll’s “ diving ” consisted of slow and cautious de- 
scending the side of the shaft, hands holding anything 
that offered itself to hold, feet seeking projections to 
rest on. 

“Now, I’ll tell you, Beth,” those above heard him 
say in an easy, conversational tone, intended to be re- 
assuring, “this rope’ll hold me, and the crowd up 
there is going to hold it taut. You’ve got to take hold 
of me and I’ll climb, hands and feet ; you use your feet 
and keep hold of me. There are rough places on the 
sides you can just stick your shoe toes in. We’ll go up 
all right, if you don’t get rattled,” 


THE STRONG HEARTED 


233 


“ I’m wedged,” they heard Beth say. “ I can’t get 
hold of you. If it hadn’t been that I turned and 
caught somehow, I’d have gone straight down to the 
bottom.” 

“Well, you didn’t!” Noll said sharply, for Beth’s 
voice trembled with horror. “ Don’t you dare think 
about the going down ; keep your mind on the going 
up. Here, you up there ! Pull on the rope and hold 
it taut. I’ve got to let go and get Beth free.” Noll 
carried out his own programme cautiously, when he 
felt the rope drawing around him. With a foot braced 
on each side of the shaft, he used his right hand to lib- 
erate Beth. He found that she had caught on a split 
board by her skirt and had swung sidewise. As she 
had instinctively drawn up her feet, away from the 
depth below, she had wedged in an angle — mercifully, 
for but for this she would have fallen down to almost 
certain death. Noll felt sick as he realized this. He 
began to whistle Tipperary to steady his nerves. 
“ Now when I say the word, turn toward me, slowly, 
and put out your right foot. I’ll steer it where it can 
get a little hold. Take hold of me and remember you 
can’t fall if you hold on,” Noll directed, wondering 
with a new chill whether that rope was as good as it 
ought to be. 

Beth obeyed, and deserved credit for following direc- 
tions absolutely. It is not easy to give up wholly to a 
rescue when every nerve is overstrained and awful death 
yawns for a misstep. Slowly she turned and clasped 
her hands around Noll’s waist. He guided the foot, 


234 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


which she extended, into a crevice, shoving it carefully 
along with his own foot. 

“ Now, Beth, throw your weight on your arms and 
as much on the toes of that foot as it will take, put out 
your other foot and feel along the side for a rough 
spot, then begin pushing yourself upward — you’ve got 
to feel the way yourself — and I’ll climb and they’ll 
pull up. Now then : Excelsior ! ” said Noll. 

They began the ascent. “ I wish it had been to-day 
that I had brought Tim here,” Beth allowed herself to 
murmur. 

But she climbed with praiseworthy self-control, 
thanking her gymnasium practice of the winter and 
mentally touching her ring as a reminder that now, if 
ever, she must be strong hearted. 

“ Oh, gee ! ” Beth and Noll heard Dirk exclaim with . 
such fervor that it sounded like a sob, a prayerful 
thanksgiving. “ Ain’t I glad you came ! ” 

“ What’s wrong ? ” they heard Kobert Leonard’s 
voice cry sharply. ‘‘ Miriam ” 

But he broke off and Noll saw his face above the 
opening of the shaft and felt his hand tighten the rope. 

“ Hold on ; I can’t finish if I’m in two pieces,” Noll 
warned him, and Kobert actually laughed as he let 
the rope go back solely into the hands of its original 
holders. 

“Here, then; what’s the use of my college record 
if I can’t help you now ? ” said Kobert. 

He lay down, kicked off his shoes and lowered him- 
self with his left hand and his feet, head downward, a 


THE STEONG HEAETED 


235 


short distance into the shaft. His right hand he ex- 
tended, and Noll took it. After this the ascent was 
easy and rapid. Eobert twisted himself back and 
gently drew Noll with him, the three girls and Dirk 
keeping time with the rope. Thus Noll got out first. 
Eobert reached down and held Beth while he gained 
the floor ; then Beth was landed by Eobert’s strong 
arms, without an effort. The rescue was accomplished. 

It was a sorry looking Beth that came up, her clothes 
dusty and torn, her hands and arms scratched, her hair 
falling around a wreck of her dear little face, marred 
by wounds and bleeding. But her friends were not less 
glad to see her ! Janie, Daisy and Nellie, May, Euth 
and Dirk, who had held the rope, leaped to her side 
and began to hug her, and cry over her in a frenzy. 
Dirk, boy as he was, sobbed, too, and never knew it. 
Natalie and Alys had been supporting Miriam, with 
Edith’s help, while the rescue was being worked out. 
They were all four trembling. The three girls stood, 
Natalie and Alys as crutches, with Miriam’s arms over 
their shoulders, Edith behind her holding her up around 
her waist. Thus Miriam’s weight was eased, yet she 
stood^ with an actual and genuine standing, on her feet. 
Thus supporting Miriam, Natalie, Alys and Edith could 
not snatch Beth out of the shaft when Eobert drew her 
up and they quivered under their restraint, while 
Miriam shook so that they were frightened. Beth, 
stormed by the remaining five on her emergence, for a 
moment did not see the amazing tableau before her. 
Then her eyes fell on it. 


236 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


“ Miriam ! Miriam ! Look, look ! " she screamed. 

“ I got the shock,” sobbed Miriam, falling forward on 
Beth’s neck as she ran to her. 

For a moment pandemonium reigned. Then, out 
of the babel, Beth caught Natalie’s explanation. 

“ She just got right up and took two or three steps 
without thinking. We caught her, or she’d have 
fallen, but she walked ! It was just as the doctors had 
said : she was so shocked when she saw you plunge 
down the shaft that she never thought of herself at 
all.” 

“ She’s cured ! Miriam’s cured ! ” gasped Beth, awe- 
struck, ecstatic. She turned toward Eobert as she 
spoke. 

“ Probably not quite that, Beth, but she never again 
will be as she was. Now she has walked, we’ll get her 
crutches and she will go on — perhaps one day discard 
them ! We must get her into the chariot again ; too 
much excitement to be good,” said Bob Leonard. 

“ May as well get it outside before we put her into 
it ; we’ll give up Belgians for to-day, sha’n’t we ? ” sug- 
gested Noll. 

“ Looks as though we might have to do hospital work 
instead, at home,” said Eobert. 

He brought water from the clear river branch out- 
side and shaking out a folded handkerchief which he 
produced from his pocket, proceeded to wash Beth’s 
face while the boys took the chariot down the steps. 

Beth protested against this abuse of white linen. 

“ I must be perfectly awful, with all that dust, and 



“I GOT THE SHOCK,” SOBBED MIRIAM 





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THE STEONG HEAETED 


237 


bleeding, too ! Please let me go out and wash my face 
in the Branch,” she begged. 

But Eobert was firm. “We can’t risk any little girl 
who dives down shafts kneeling on the bank to wash 
her face ! I^o telling how soon she’d join the Lorelei ! ” 
he said. 

He saw that Beth was shaking, her face was ghastly 
under its deposit of dust and blood, her lips were blue. 
N^ow that the danger was over, the horror of it unnerved 
her ; she did not feel in the least “ strong of heart ” 
now that her class in heroism was dismissed, so to 
speak. 

“ Miss Natalie, I think you and I had better help our 
reckless Beth home ; she needs support,” he said, after 
he had removed the increment from Beth’s pale face 
and revealed a long nail scratch on her forehead and 
some lesser wounds on her cheek. 

“ I feel better ; that fresh water was so good,” said 
Beth gratefully. 

“I think we all need support,” smiled Natalie 
tremulously. “ I feel like a thread of number one 
hundred cotton ! Maybe we’d better all take one an- 
other’s arm on the way down and hold one another up.” 

“ You held up Miriam so long ! ” Eobert said, and he 
did not realize the tone in which he said it, nor the 
look in his eyes as they rested on Natalie. “ It has 
been a pretty hard afternoon, but what a fortunate 
one ! ” 

“ Aunt Eebecca would not call it fortunate ; she’d say 
it was providential/’ said Beth. “ Don’t you suppose. 


238 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


if God sees the fall of a sparrow, He must have seen me 
fall and just made me catch that way, so I should 
shock Miriam into walking, yet not be hurt myself ? 
Aunt Kebecca said everything went together, just like 
a picture puzzle, when people didn’t mix up the pieces 
too badly, and if only we weren’t too blind to see the 
picture when it was done. Don’t you think I fell ex- 
pressly ? ” 

Kobert laughed, but it was a laugh of enjoyment, not 
of ridicule. 

“I imagine you fell express, at least!’’ he said. 
‘‘Yes, little Beth, I believe events befall, not happen, in 
the sense of a chance happening. And I don’t know 
why God wouldn’t help patient Miriam and watch over 
dear little Beth, since even we would do both. It cer- 
tainly was a happy thing you fell, since it has not 
seriously harmed you.” 

“Isn’t there something like that I’ve heard, in 
Shakespeare?” asked Beth, wrinkling her wounded 
brow. 

“ ‘ Some falls are means the happier to arise ’ ; you 
funny little Beth?” Robert quoted interrogatively, 
laughing again. 

“ That must be it. Miriam is in the chariot. Let’s 
pick up all our work and take it home. Something 
might happen to it if we left it here. I don’t feel as 
though I’d care about meeting here again, do you, 
girls ? ” asked Beth. 

“ I feel as though after I’d got home and eaten my 
supper and spent the night dreaming about this, most 


THE STEONG HEARTED 


239 


likely, I’d never be able to come inside this mill again ! ” 
declared Janie with shuddering emphasis. 

“ Yet we agree that we’ve had a wonderful, glorified 
afternoon ! ” said Beth, rapidly gathering up materials 
for the borrowed express cart. And Robert and Natalie 
smiled behind her bent shoulders at her use of the word 
“ glorified.” 

The procession formed for return in the order of its 
coming, but it was a silent procession of white and 
weary young folk. Miriam lay, blanched and ex- 
hausted, in her chariot, with eyes closed. But when 
she opened them they shone with new light in the 
midst of her pathetic face. Hope was creeping into 
her, hope that was almost a certainty, and she was oc- 
cupied all the way back in planning how to tell her 
mother what had befallen her and rejecting every form 
of announcement as inadequate to the greatness of her 
tidings. 

Ella Lowndes met them at the door and Cricket 
showed great disappointment that she had no plate in 
her hand. Malvina Mellin stood close behind Ella ; 
the amount of her that showed betrayed excitement 
and Ella was unmistakably stirred. 

“ I thought you’d never come and there wasn’t a soul 
to send aft Beth, for gracious’ sake ! ” Ella in- 

terrupted herself, horrified by the sight of Beth’s face. 

‘‘ I had a bad fall, at least it might have been bad, 
only it turned out to be the finest fall ever fallen ! ” 
Beth reassured her, I’m not hurt, only a little sore 
and scratched up.” 


240 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ Your dear pretty face ! ” groaned Ella, with un- 
wonted emotion. 

“ It’ll have to be only dear for a while, Ella,” 
laughed Beth. ‘‘ Dirk and Noll have taken Miriam 
home. Ella, when she saw me fall she got the shock 
the doctors ordered for her ! She got up and walked 
a few steps and stood, while Noll saved me, only the 
girls held her up, of course ! Did you ever in all your 
life?” 

“ Miriam Gaines ? Walked ? Miriam ? ” cried Ella. 
And she sat down on the step. “ Noll rescued you ? 

Miriam was so shocked she got up Beth, what 

happened to you ? Where’d you fall ? Oh, what will 
Miss Bristead say ! My goodness me, just hear me ! ” 
“ I fell a little way down the shaft, in the mill, but 
it didn’t matter. I caught. Noll was splendid, just 
perfectly splendid, Ella ! So was my fall ! Don’t be 
so horrified now it’s over — in a postscript scare ! Why 
did you want us in such a hurry ? ” 

“ Mercy upon us, I forgot all about You go 

right into the drawing-room, all you children. There’s 
some one in there, waitin’, likely peekin’ out at you 
and not admirin’ Beth’s looks any more’n I do ! ” said 
Ella, painfully arising. 


CHAPTEK XIY 


A DESERTER 

“ T CAX’T go into the drawing-room to see any one 

X when I look like this ! My hair is unbraided, my 
skirt is torn and I’m as dirty as Cricket is when he digs 
in the dust to bury bones,” said Beth, reminded by 
Ella’s last words of her unfit state. “ You and Alys 
go in, Natalie ; you look all right, and I’ll go make 
myself respectable.” 

“You must go with the rest, Beth. You can go 
right away, and dress for supper afterward,” Ella 
Lowndes interposed. 

“ Oh, it must be only Middy, or something you’re 
fooling us with, Ella. You wouldn’t want me to see 
any one like this ! ” cried Beth, cheering up and start- 
ing toward the drawing-room door, followed by her 
three cousins. 

“ Git good and ready for a shock ! ” Malvina advised 
them. “ I’m waitin’ to hear you yell out.” 

“ Go first and hide me, in case it is any one,” Beth 
whispered to Natalie. 

So Natalie opened the door, crossed its threshold — 
and flung herself forward with a cry that uttered a 
longing which she had hidden for the past hard weeks. 
Her cry was echoed, in varying keys, by the other three. 

241 


242 


BETH^S OLD HOME 


“ Dad I Why, dad ! ” “ Papa, papa ! ” “ Oh, dar- 
ling Uncle Jim ! ” screamed Dirk, Alys and Beth, and 
precipitated themselves headlong at a tall figure rising 
to meet them from out the darkest corner of the room. 

Surprised, my chicks ? ’’ Mr. Cortlandt asked, his 
voice warm with his own joy. He gathered the four 
young creatures into his arms, as many at a time, as 
fast in succession, as he could, and kissed them over 
and over again. “ Never before so long without you, 
my dear ones ; never so long again, I hope,” he mur- 
mured. “ I got a chance to come home almost im- 
mediately after I reached London. Be sure I jumped 
at it ! If only your mother could have come ! But 
she is doing so much good helping in the organization 
of work for stranded Americans, and, now, for the 
Belgians, and also getting American Bed Cross work 
on its feet, that I had to admit she must stay — a while ; 
I can’t consent to its being too long.” 

“We’ve made up our minds to lending her, but it 
was hard,” said Natalie. “We were as happy as we 
could be here at first, but lately ” she hesitated. 

“ I know, dear, I know ! ” Mr. Cortlandt’s face and 
tone were sympathetic. “ You children alone here to 
take responsibility when Beth’s good aunt died ! Sorry, 
my Bethie ! ” He rubbed his cheek against Beth’s with 
his old caress. 

“ It wasn’t a very responsible responsibility. Uncle 
Jim,” said Beth. “You see Ella Lowndes knows just 
what ought to be done and Malvina Mellin is just as 
neat and orderly and quick ! Only, of course, she did 


A DESEETER 


243 


sprain her ankle, but that was before. Before Aunt 
Rebecca died, I mean. The worst is to feel so small 
and the house so big, with an emptiness in it, in spite 
of my cousins ; to think you’re the last of the Bris- 
teads. But we did our best to be happy and strong of 
heart. Only when the war broke out and you and 

Aunt Alida could not come ” Beth drew in her 

breath. 

“ Hard luck ! ” Uncle Jim patted her on the 
shoulder. “What in all this world have you done 
to yourself, my Bethie ? Just done, apparently ; the 
marks are fresh. You look as though you had been in 
the trenches yourself. Send whoever abused you like 
this to me ! Where were you, Dirk, that you let Beth 
get done up to this extent ? ” 

Beth laughed. It was such a comfort to hear Uncle 
Jim playing with her again, in his old petting, com- 
rade-like way. 

“ It was kind of a trench. Uncle Jim,” she said, 
and told the tale of her misadventure. 

“ My dear ! ” Uncle Jim actually groaned. “ What 
an escape, Beth ; do you realize it ? I hope you won’t 
play around that place again. Merciful heaven, suppose 
I had come to find you dead or crippled ! My girl- 
sister Nannie’s little girl ! What a fine boy this Noll 
must be ! And I’m truly grateful to Bob Leonard for 
staying here to keep an eye on you and help you out. 
I want to see him as soon as possible and thank him.” 

“ He came all the way home with us, we were so 
used up from the fright, but he did not come in,” 


244 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Alys explained. “ WeTl see him after supper ; he 
usually gets Dirk, and then they go for Noll, and 
take a walk. Then he comes here for a while, almost 
each night.” 

“ That’s good ! May I stay in your house over night. 
Miss Bristead ? And perhaps longer ? I must look 
into your business affairs. Miss Elizabeth Bristead, so 
I feel warranted in asking your hospitality,” said Mr. 
Cortlandt with extreme deference. 

^‘Oh, Uncle Jim!” cried Beth. She always said: 
“ Oh, Uncle Jim ! ” quite helplessly when her uncle 
teased her, or, still more, when he overwhelmed her 
with one of his astounding favors. 

“I’ve got to get tidy before supper ; I forgot what a 
sight I was ! ” cried Beth starting up. 

“ I was thinking that it was easy to see that Frieda, 
your careful little maid, was not here ! A mill shaft 
is not nearly as good to adorn you, Bethie. Kun along, 
but make a quick toilet. A deserter from the war 
doesn’t want to lose a moment of a reunited family,” 
said Uncle Jim, helping Beth to her feet from the arm 
of his chair, her favorite perch of old when she talked 
to Uncle Jim. 

“We ought to dress, but we’ll risk having time after 
Beth gets back. Do you want to dress now, father ? ” 
asked Natalie, involuntarily sighing in her satisfaction 
at being able to lay her hand on this delightful father’s 
arm. 

“ Evening clothes are not a strict requirement at 
Chilton suppers, I fancy ? Then I believe I’ll be con- 


A DESEETEB 


^45 


tent as I am, plus fresh water for my hands, by and 
by. My girls and boy, you wouldn’t believe how I’ve 
hungered for you ! And you over here made it harder 
to see Paris so grave and solemn, to know that it was 
so because thousands of fathers had left their children, 
for whom those children would wait in vain ! Your 
mother and I thanked heaven hourly that we were 
Americans, not involved, that unless there were a dis- 
aster of travel, we should see our children again. But 
it does not lighten one’s heart, if he has a heart at all, 
to rejoice that one is exempt from the sorrow around 
him. All your lives, girls and boy, use whatever in- 
fluence you may have to hasten the day when there 
will be no more war. It is heartrending to see Paris 
so serious, so mournful, yet so devoted. And London 
hiding her heavy heart as the English will. And then 
the Belgian refugees ! Oh, children, you can’t con- 
ceive it ! Thousands homeless, bewildered, puzzled, 
numb with despair ! The little children, the little 
guiltless orphan children ! ” Mr. Cortlandt put his 
arms with a quick movement around his two daughters, 
one on each of his knees. “ And we have one another 
and can rejoice to-night ! ” 

Beth came running down-stairs, breaking in upon 
the quiet that followed Mr. Cortlandt’s words. She 
found both girls with their heads leaned against their 
father’s and Dirk employed in picking out the fingers 
of his gloves, this being as near to a caress as his 
American boyhood allowed him to show with his sisters 
there to be demonstrative for him. 


246 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ Well, Bethie, you are transformed ! ” Uncle Jim 
approved her, holding out a hand over Alys’ shoulder 
to welcome Beth, sweet and dainty in a delicate white 
frock. “ But I’m not sure that your wounds are not 
more apparent now than before ; they look rather worse 
on a well-groomed little maid than on a face surrounded 
by disheveled hair and dusty clothes ! Shame you’re 
so knocked up, pussy ! Now will you let your vener- 
able uncle wash his hands, while his children make 
themselves ready for tea ? Have you a room for me ? ” 

“ Would you mind taking Aunt Eebecca’s room. 
Uncle Jim ? ” asked Beth. “ Nobody has used it since 
— for some time. I often think it must be a lonely 
room.” 

“ I’ll be glad to keep it company while I’m here, 
hostess mine,” said Uncle Jim, smiling down on Beth. 
“I belong there because I have succeeded Aunt Be- 
becca in the responsibility for you. Come and intro- 
duce me to it.” 

Beth felt shy and exceedingly small seated at the 
head of the table that night, opposite her uncle. Ella 
had used the old blue willow ware; there was still 
enough of it left to serve supper, though the set was 
not complete. Some of the silver was worn thin, but 
most of it was old only with the aging of dignity ; 
Uncle Jim handled it with appreciation. Beth wished 
with all her heart that he could have come while Aunt 
Eebecca was there to uphold the dignity of her house. 
But the supper was excellent; Uncle Jim ate like a boy. 
Ella Lowndes could be depended upon to uphold the 


A DESERTER 


247 


reputation of the Bristead kitchen, always famous for 
its skill and abundance. 

After supper Uncle Jim and the three girls went out 
on the steps to enjoy the evening coolness while Dirk 
sped off to the Chilton Arms to make sure that Bob 
Leonard joined them and that Mr. Cortlandt should 
have a chance to tell him that he appreciated his serv- 
ice to the young people, left to themselves in anxious 
hours. 

“ Nice old village, Bethie,” said Uncle Jim, exhaling 
with great satisfaction the fragrant smoke of the cigar 
which he had lighted “ with Miss Bristead’s permis- 
sion,” he had said with a bow. 

“Well, of course I like Chilton,” Beth replied. 
“ You haven’t seen it yet. You must see it to-mor- 
row.” 

“ I can see that it is first cousin — on the American 
side — to Cranford and the village Miss Mitford wrote 
of — ‘ Our Village,’ she called it. I must see more than 
Chilton to-morrow, Beth,” said Uncle Jim. “ I can’t 
lose much time in doing my errand, which is to make 
definite arrangements for your future, Bethie. What 
do you want to do with this house ? ” 

Beth hesitated. “Live in it. Uncle Jim ?” she sug- 
gested after an instant. 

“ Alone, with your good and kind Ella ? ” Uncle 
Jim raised his eyebrows at Beth. “ My dear little girl, 
you must have the companionship of your own kin, 
kindred in every way. As to what you want to do 
with yourself^ that wasn’t what I asked, Bethie. That 


248 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


is decided. You are to come to us and never leave us 
until, when you are a woman grown, you wish to go 
out of your home to another preferred to it. You 
are ours, ‘for keeps,’ Beth, as Dirk would say. What 
I asked was what you wanted to do with the house ? 
Have you thought ? ” 

“ I couldn’t help thinking of it a little. Uncle Jim, 
because Natalie and Alys have been saying I was go- 
ing to live with them,” admitted Beth, afraid of seem- 
ing to take for granted that her uncle would claim her. 
“ Ought I rent it ? ” 

‘‘ There’s no ought in the case, Beth, except that 
houses left to themselves go, more or less quickly, to 
destruction,” said Uncle Jim. “ What would you like 
to do?” 

“ Let Ella Lowndes live here all her life and take 
care of some orphan children here, and let me come 
home sometimes,” said Beth, so promptly that it be- 
trayed that she had considered the matter more than 
she said. “ But I suppose that would cost — it would 
be more than I could do, wouldn’t it ? ” 

Uncle Jim regarded her thoughtfully. “ I was not 
prepared for encountering a philanthropic plan, already 
matured,” he said gravely. “ Now, listen attentively, 
little Anomaly-and-Survival ! My father died, as you 
know, unreconciled to my sister’s marriage and crushed 
by her death, which had made reconciliation impossible. 
He made no provision in his will for you, the baby 
which she had left. In justice to his memory I want 
to say that I am sure this was less from unwillingness 


A DESERTER 


249 


to provide for his grandchild than utter indifference, 
forgetfulness, toward her. He had made his will when 
Nannie married and he never altered it. Consequently 
I inherited all of his considerable fortune. I have pros- 
pered in my own career, Beth, as the whole world 
knows ; your Aunt Alida inherited wealth — altogether 
I am the possessor of one of the great American for- 
tunes one hears about. Though these things seem unreal 
and quite of no consequence between ourselves ; I’m 
just your Uncle Jim, like thousands of other uncles ! ” 

“ There isn’t another uncle on earth like you ! ” af- 
firmed Beth. 

“None else is your own,” Uncle Jim rewarded Beth 
with a pat. Natalie and Alys sat as still as mice, won- 
dering what was coming. “ In common justice, Beth, 
not in generosity,” Uncle Jim went on, “ I must restore 
to you what your grandfather would have given you 
had he lived a little longer ; your mother’s share in his 
fortune. That shall be invested for you until you are 
twenty-one ; then you shall take it over into your con- 
trol. Unless you change greatly from the sober little 
old lady that you are, you will use it beneficially, to 
yourself and to others. In the meantime your educa- 
tion and support is to be my charge, equally with 
my children’s, because I’m far too fond of you, Beth, 
not to want to take you the remainder of the way. 
Consequently, whatever income your great-aunt. Miss 
Bristead, has left you, together with this house, is free 
from all obligations ; you can use it as you please. I’d 
like to see exactly what you will choose to do with 


250 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


it and how you do it — consulting wiser heads, of 
course ! ” 

Beth was stricken dumb. “ I can do anything I 
please with all that money ? All Aunt Kebecca spent ? ” 
she said slowly at last. Then the color flooded her 
face. She cried, speaking fast : “ Then I wouldn’t 
change one thing ! I'd keep Ella Lowndes here ; I 
know she’d be overjoyed to stay ! And it wouldn’t 
cost any more to have two little orphan girls here, two 
nice, chubby, cute little things, than it did for Aunt 
Kebecca and me to live here ! And Ella would bring 
them up so well ! And they’d go to school, just as I 
used to, and when they got to Miss Bradley’s room 
they’d be just as crazy about her as I was, and — maybe 
— when I came here they’d call me Aunt Elizabeth ! I 
always was so sorry I hadn’t a brother or a sister, for 
I never could be called Aunt Elizabeth ! ” 

Natalie and Alys dropped their heads on their knees 
simultaneously, and shook with laughter. 

“Nothing unlikely, nor difiicult about your ambi- 
tions, so far. Aunt Elizabeth,” said Uncle Jim, with a 
gravity his eyes belied. “ Any orphans in view ? ” 

“ Only imagining what they’d look like — very chubby 
and cunning, you know ; blue gingham rompers on one 
and pink on the other,” cried Beth, with gathering ex- 
citement. 

“ Is that the uniform worn in Miss Bradley’s room ? ” * 
inquired Uncle Jim. 

“ Not exactly ! ” cried Beth. “ Miss Bradley teaches 
the sixth grade ! Anna Mary could get us two or- 


A DESERTER 


251 


phans ; she does so much good among the poor. Or 
Aunt Alida could bring us two homeless Belgian babies. 
And then if only I could ” Beth checked herself. 

“ Tell me all your aspirations, Bethikins ! ” Uncle 
Jim bade her. 

“ You know when you get to dreaming you go right 
on and on ! ” Beth apologized. “ This would be awfully 
expensive ; not like taking two babies into a house 
already built and just feeding them and sewing for 
them. But I keep thinking about the mill.” 

“ The mill ? ” Uncle Jim repeated as Beth paused. 
“ The one on the place ? The one that has the delight- 
ful story of its building for its dower ? I^atalie wrote 
me of it.” 

“ That’s the one. A several times great-grandfather 
of mine, Israel Bristead, built it to help his enemy,” 
Beth confirmed her uncle. “ You’ll have to go up 
there in the morning, it’s so lovely there. Who do 
you suppose suggested something beautiful about it ? 
Tim ! ” Beth triumphed, as her uncle shook his head. 

“ Tim, Beth ? Tim Brannigan ? ” Uncle Jim looked 
puzzled. 

“ I don’t believe I ever heard his last name, but it’s 
our dear old Tim. He said this when he brought 
Trump up — that I might turn the mill into a sanita- 
rium ; it’s just as strong as Gibraltar — except in a spot 
or two — I fell through one of them to-day. And I 
would perfectly love to let it end its days doing good, 
the way it began them ! But it would cost such a fear- 
ful lot to fix it up ! Then I suppose it would have to 


252 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


be supported ; nurses maybe ! Mrs. Thayer had a 
trained nurse once and she cost twenty-five dollars a 
week ! ” Beth’s voice dropped in awe of her own 
statement. 

Mr. Cortlandt removed his cigar and regarded Beth 
with sincere surprise. 

“ I feel like a man who had turned a faucet, expect- 
ing to get the usual flow of warm water from his own 
tank, but finds the Atlantic Ocean running into his 
bath-room ! Beth, child, where have you kept these 
large schemes hidden under your innocent childish ex- 
terior ? What sort of a sanitarium do you covet ? ” he 
asked. 

Beth was prepared with this answer, also. “ Don’t 
you think it would be nice to have it for lame chil- 
dren ? Miriam took her first step there and Liebchen 
— you know, Uncle Jim ? My maid Frieda’s little 
sister, in New York ? Liebchen was cured, after being 
so long crippled ; you had her cured. So it seems as 
though we kept sort of hovering around lame children. 
It really would be wonderful to have them there, on 
the edge of the pretty Branch, summers, limping toward 
wellness ! ” 

“Beth, Beth!” cried Uncle Jim, as again Natalie 
and Alys laughed, though they were amazed beyond 
comment at this outburst of Beth’s secret desires. “ I 
certainly did not look for such magnificent response to 
my question ! ” 

Beth was launched in amplification of her ideas. 
“ I’d call it Israel’s Healing — I think that sounds 


A DESERTEE 


253 


beautiful. It would mean Israel Bristead — but a 
great deal more! And I’d like to put up over the 
front door — an arched front door would be nice, 
wouldn’t it, Uncle Jim ? Put over the door : In 
memory of JS’annie Bristead. Then, below that : ‘ He 
watching over Israel slumbereth not, nor sleeps.’ 
That would mean that the crippled children were 
watched over and that Israel Bristead’s goodness had 
been watched over and gone on. Wouldn’t it be 
heavenly. Uncle Jim ? ” 

Uncle Jim regarded Beth with unfeigned amazement 
as she talked, with kindling eyes and reddened cheeks. 
Hatalie and Alys gazed at Beth as if they had never 
seen her before. 

“ Beth, my dear, how much you must have dwelt on 
this plan ! Even to the shape of the door you are 
primed and ready to describe it 1 And you wanted to 
found your charity in memory of the mother you never 
saw ! I wish it could be done ; I’ll go up to see your 
mill early in the morning, astonishing little Elizabeth ! 
And, when you are in control of your own little in- 
come, what is it to do for you, for yourself, Beth ? ” 

Beth stared at him a moment as one who could not 
come back at once to lesser things. Then she smiled, 
and blushed at the implication of unselfishness. 

“ You and Aunt Alida didn’t leave me one thing to 
want. Uncle Jim. I do believe you first planned 
Israel’s Healing, and gave me a great deal more than I 
ever could have thought of so I’d want nothing but 
this ! But I do ! I want a new collar for Cricket ! 


254 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


I’ll get that when I’m rich in my own wealth I ” Beth 
gave her uncle a look that triumphed over him. 

“ I would suggest a new Cricket for a collar,” Uncle 
Jim came back at her, Cricket being given over to such 
fear of him that Mr. Cortlandt could not perceive the 
little dog’s charms. 

“Here are Mr. Leonard and Dirk at last!” cried 
E'atalie, first to discern the tall and the short figures 
approaching through the dusk. 

Mr. Cortlandt arose to greet Kobert; they shook 
hands heartily. 

“ You’ve been the greatest comfort to Mrs. Cortlandt 
and me, Mr. Leonard,” Mr. Cortlandt said sincerely. 
“ However competent the women were who were look- 
ing after the children, I should not have felt so 
thoroughly at ease about them if you had not been 
here. I’d like you to hear my conventional ‘ thank 
you ’ with the ears of conviction. I do thank you 
sincerely.” 

“ I’d rather you wouldn’t,” said Bob Leonard with 
equal sincerity. “ It makes me feel such a humbug ! 
I’ve enjoyed every minute of my stay ; I’ve had no 
desire to move on, not the least, so there’s nothing to 
my credit. I’ve done what I wanted to do, and you 
mustn’t thank me for that 1 ” 

“ Well, then, I’ll take it all back ! ” laughed Mr. 
Cortlandt. “ All the same, if ever I can prove that I’d 
merely be doing what I wanted to do in doing some- 
thing you’d like done, let me practice a little of your 
brand of self-seeking ! ” 


A DESERTER 


255 


“All right, sir,” agreed Robert. “But it’s the 
simple truth that I’ve had a dandy vacation in Chilton. 
The place gives one the feeling of getting back to the 
old homestead ! It’s a village with a curiously reminis- 
cent atmosphere. My forebears were New England 
colonists ; do you suppose it’s a stirring of their blood 
in my veins — sort of a Call of the Tame ? ” 

“Very likely. Probably your New England great- 
grandmother telling you to come to supper and study 
the Westminster Catechism as soon as you’re through,” 
Mr. Cortlandt agreed. “Now, Mr. Leonard, tell me 
what you know of Beth’s affairs, will you ? And then 
I want to tell you about our experience in France when 
the war broke out. I’ve been keeping my budget of 
what I truly think are interesting adventures till you 
got here to join in the talk. But first, will you please 
tell me anything you know about Beth’s little inherit- 
ance here ? ” 

The elder and the younger man plunged into a brief 
talk that Beth did not follow. Though it concerned 
herself, she did not concern herself about it. She 
would know all that she could understand about it 
when Uncle Jim had mastered its facts and was ready 
to impart them to her. She and her cousins chatted in 
low voices, apart from their elders, until Mr. Cortlandt 
said : 

“ Well, Beth has surprised us to-night by announcing 
her ambitions. If I used her capital to make them 
possible, her income would be reduced so that they 
would be again impossible. We’ll see, however ! Join 


256 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


us in the morning ; Beth is to show me her mill — it is 
the pivot of her ambitions ! i^ow I’m ready to tell my 
tales of war’s beginnings ! ” 

JS^atalie, Alys, Dirk and Beth jumped up and gathered 
closer to Mr. Cortlandt’s knees. He then began stories 
which he was well within bounds in calling “ interest- 
ing.” He talked until midnight drew near, but no one 
was sleepy. For the first time his audience fully 
realized and visualized the tremendous, unspeakably 
awful events of the last month of that summer in 
Europe. 

“To be continued ! ” Uncle Jim broke off suddenly, 
realizing how late he was keeping up his youthful 
hearers. “Ever since Ulysses it is hard to check a 
man from going on forever with his adventures ! But 
these are great days; you are seeing what the next 
generation must study. I’d rather take it second hand ! 
Makes it real to have a deserter from the war come 
home, eh, Dirk ? ” 



HE TALKED UNTIL MIDNIGHT DREW NEAR 



CHAPTER XV 

LITTLE PIECES OF THE PICTURE PUZZLE 
HE heat of September equaled the record of July, 



X but, though the sun scorched the earth through a 
long drouth, he did not rise as early to go to work as 
he had risen in the summer. Waking at half-past four 
did not mean waking in the full blaze of day, as it had 
when the Cortlandt young people had just arrived at 
Chilton. Yet Beth wakened at that hour to see a 
brilliant dawn and to call ^N^atalie and Alys, softly, for 
fear of waking too soon the near-by sleeper. It was 
Uncle Jim, not Aunt Rebecca, whose sleep she might 
now disturb. Remembering the May morning when 
she had come to “ butter her cousins’ paws so they 
would be contented,” it was easy for Beth to speak 
quietly at their door. That morning Aunt Rebecca 
had slyly made fun of the young people’s notion of 
keeping quiet; now — nothing could disturb her, and 
Uncle Jim was occupying her abandoned room ! 

“ Awake, girls ? ” Beth whispered, her lips close to 
the door. Then, getting no answer, she turned the 
knob softly and entered. 

Natalie was asleep, but Alys’ grayish eyes met hers, 
broad awake. Then Natalie jumped up, with a startled 
look, and fell back on her pillow with a sleepy smile 
when she saw Beth. 


257 


258 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“We are going up to the mill before breakfast, you 
know,” Beth reminded them. “ I thought, maybe, we 
ought to be getting dressed.” 

“ Have we been to bed ? ” Hatalie asked, still smil- 
ing sleepily, disregarding her present comfort among 
her pillows. “ It seems to me about five minutes ago 
we were on the steps with dads, hearing him talk about 
P-a-a — oh, dear ! Paris ! ” Hatalie ended with a shame- 
less yawn, writhing her white arms, out of their fall- 
ing lacy sleeves, above her head in a thorough stretch. 
“ Seems as though the mill would keep a while longer, 
since it’s stood not much less than a century! But 
I suppose there’s no use in trying to sleep if Beth’s got 
it into her head to build it over into a rest cure before 
breakfast — that’s what the name means ! Cures our 
rest, so we don’t have it any more ! ” IS’atalie slipped 
her feet into her “ mules ” and sat on the edge of the 
bed, scowling fearfully at Beth. 

“I was awake anyway,” said Alys, following her 
sister’s example from the other side of the bed, as Beth 
laughed, without attempting to defend herself from 
Natalie’s mock wrath. “ I keep thinking of what fa- 
ther was saying last night ; I don’t like the war I ” 

Beth smiled at Alys in her lovable little grand- 
motherly way. She was beginning to understand Alys 
better ; that, though she was a singularly silent girl, 
not in the least demonstrative, lacking Natalie’s charm 
and overfiowing affection in all directions, she brooded 
over her worries and whatever happened to her, for 
good or ill, went deep and wore upon her nervously. 


LITTLE PIECES OF THE PICTUEE PUZZLE 259 


“ I don’t believe any one likes the war very well, do 
you, Alys? That’s one reason why it would be so 
nice if we could help lame children in the mill, or let 
Ella take two orphans in this house. They’d look like 
little fat green islands in a desert, if we saw them, 
running around after Tabby, when we’d been reading 
something awful in the paper.” 

Natalie and Alys’ laugh at this speech of Beth’s 
rang out so shrill that the three girls instantly knew 
that Mr. Cortlandt must have been wakened. Beth 
was conscious of regretting this less than she should. 

Sure enough! An instant later Uncle Jim called 
out: 

“ When are we to start millward. Miss Bristead ? ” 

“Whenever you like, Mr. Cortlandt,” Beth called 
back. “I’m aU dressed and the girls are getting 
ready.” 

Uncle Jim appeared in record time, dressed as though 
he were going golfing. Beth ran to approve him with 
a particularly hearty morning greeting. 

“ You look just as nice as if you had your valet here. 
Uncle Jim, dear,” she said. “ It’s perfectly de-licious 
to see you coming down-stairs here in the morning, 
when I’ve been aching to see you 1 Sometimes I’ve 
been frightened because, for a minute, I couldn’t re- 
member how you looked, no matter how I tried 1 But 
Dirk looks so much like you it helps and of course 
there’s your picture.” 

“Doesn’t begin to do me justice,” said Uncle Jim, 
shaking his head with an air of complete disgust and 


260 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


discouragement. ‘‘ The only way to recall me, Bethie, 
when you find my features fading — all F’s, you notice ! 
— is to get down the dictionary and read over such 
adjectives as: ‘Handsome. Noble. Distinguished. 
Courtly. Amiable ’ — mind you don’t read : ‘ Pretty ’ ! 
How are your wounds ? They are still as apparent as 
they were yesterday.” 

“I put on several things last night — creoline and 
cold cream and a splendid ointment I remembered 
afterward that Aunt Rebecca liked best. But I sup- 
pose it’ll take time,” said Beth. “ Natalie and Alys 
and Dirk are out in the garden gathering some peas 
Ella planted to see if they would do anything so late, 
and they did ! I came in when I heard you coming 
down-stairs whistling. Shall we go right off, Uncle 
Jim? Mr. Leonard is here. He went out to take 
Trump some fine burdock leaves he’d gathered for him. 
We’ve used up all the burdock we had here. Trump 
is crazy for it.” 

“ Not a bad idea to use up all the burdock on a place,* 
Miss Farmer ! I forgot to ask about Trump ; how is 
he ?” Uncle Jim inquired. 

“ Lovely ! Lovelier than ever ! ” declared Beth. “ If 
any one had told me I’d have been too busy to spend 
much time on a pony that was all my own I’d have 
laughed at it. But Dirk often exercises him for me — 
not that I don’t love him more and more.” 

“ ‘ The world is so full of a number of things ’ that 
not only ‘ we should all be as happy as kings,’ but the 
days and the hours are speeded on wings,” said Uncle 


LITTLE PIECES OP THE PICTUEE PUZZLE 261 


Jim, tucking Beth’s hand into his arm. “ Come along, 
missy ; show me your mill, Landed Proprietor ! ” 

Bob Leonard from the barn, Natalie and Alys from 
the garden, and Dirk from the back door, having taken 
the fresh peas into the house, added themselves to Mr. 
Cortlandt and Beth. Cricket came around the corner 
with the utmost caution, and, seeing the tall man whom 
he did not know flanked by five proved and trusty 
friends, decided to risk joining the procession and take 
the walk which promised interesting adventures, for 
they were starting through the fields at the rear of the 
house. 

“ If you can’t get your pessimistic pup to have more 
faith in human nature, Beth, you’ll be disgraced if he is 
seen by an agent of the S. P. C. A. — they’ll accuse you 
of abusing him,” said Uncle Jim, laughing at the little 
dog’s alert distrust of him. ‘‘Dear me, it is pretty 
here ! ” exclaimed Mr. Cortlandt, later, when they had 
come through the meadows to the Branch. It was a 
shallow stream now, for the drouth had been long, but 
its banks sloped down prettily to meet its bed, noble 
old willows hung over it and the red elder and wild 
rose grew beside it. 

“ When I was little I loved to play here ; Janie and 
I had our best times here,” said Beth. “ There doesn’t 
seem to be anything you can’t play here — in the way 
of make believe. If sick children came here you’d 
think they’d have to get better, wouldn’t you ? ” 

Uncle Jim patted her head. “ This is the mill that 
is grinding now, keeping its machinery at work on a 


262 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


good grist. But it’s a scheme of some magnitude you 
have hit upon, Bethie ; I should like to carry it out, if 
it were possible,” he said. 

Mr. Cortlandt went into the old mill and looked it 
over carefully. He paced its floor and made notes of 
dimensions, he also made a tiny drawing here and 
there, by way of memoranda ; then he and Bob Leonard 
went over by a small window at the rear and talked — 
plainly of the mill, as Mr. Cortlandt’s gestures revealed. 
The young people led Mr. Cortlandt home by the road, 
a little longer distance, but inviting, as a grass-grown, 
abandoned road always is, with its suggestion of the 
past. 

Breakfast was most welcome that morning and ex- 
ceedingly good. 

“ A tramp to the mill before breakfast would be to 
the miller’s advantage, were there still a miller,” re- 
marked Uncle Jim, helping himself to another muffin 
and announcing that it was his “ fifth one ” ! 

After breakfast — to which Bob Leonard had readily 
stayed — Uncle Jim and the younger man went down to 
the bank and to Aunt Bebecca’s lawyer’s office to make 
Mr. Cortlandt acquainted with Beth’s affairs. The 
girls were left to perform their respective shares of such 
a busy household that the dinner hour came, bringing 
back Mr. Cortlandt under Dirk’s escort, before it 
seemed possible. They had to whisk themselves into 
fresh white frocks in a hurry. 

“ I’m going down to Boston this afternoon, children,” 
Uncle Jim announced. “ I shall stay two days, prob- 


LITTLE PIECES OF THE PICTUKE PUZZLE 263 


ably, then come back to arrange for your next three 
months of life before I rejoin your mother — and aunt ! 
I’ll have to give up distinguishing you from the rest of 
my children, Bethie — too much trouble to construct 
sentences to fit children and niece ! ” 

“ Well, father ! ” cried Alys, with misery in her voice. 
“ Are you going back to France ? ” 

“Why, my dear, how could I leave your mother 
there alone ? ” remonstrated her father. “ Your Aunt 
Justine and her girls are in Switzerland, no more avail- 
able to your mother than you are. You are perfectly 
safe, wherever you are left, whatever final arrange- 
ments we make for you. I must return ! It is part of 
the sacrifices we all are called upon to make this hard 
year.” 

“ Gracious sakes, if you only knew how tired I was 
of being good ! ” cried Alys, tears in her eyes and such 
tragedy in her voice that no one dared laugh at her. 

“ Dear little Lyssie, I’m truly sorry that I have to 
impose an overweight of virtue on you,” said her father, 
smiling into Alys’ pale face so whimsically, with so 
much affection, that she had to smile back, though 
wanly. “ Cheer up, dear ! By Christmas, at the latest, 
if all goes well, you shall have us back and be just as 
wicked as you will ! ” 

“ I’ll probably take to highway robbery and murder, 
to square accounts,” groaned Alys. 

None of the other three made any comment on Mr. 
Cortlandt’s announcement. None was necessary, be- 
yond the blank dismay on their faces as they heard it. 


264 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ Did you find out what ought to be done with this 
house, Uncle Jim ? ” asked Beth timidly, after dinner, 
when they had gone into the living-room to sj^end the 
two hours which were theirs before Uncle Jim must 
leave for Boston. 

“ I have found out that you are entirely free to do 
with it as you like,” said her uncle, inviting her to her 
usual place on his chair arm. “ It was so obvious that 
I forgot to tell you. Of course you will have the same 
income that your Aunt Hebecca had, and — equall}^ of 
course — you need not use it for yourself, since I have in 
my hands funds which are rightfully yours, as I ex- 
plained. So whatever you decide to do here will be 
perfectly right, Bethie.” 

Beth looked delighted. “ Would there be any harm 
in my telling Ella Lowndes right away ? ” she asked. 
“ I’m sure she must be secretly worrying, and I’d like 
to stop it. This is the only home she has. If I’m with 
you a lot, don’t you think it would be perfectly lovely 
for her to have two little fat orphan girls to keep her 
company ? ” 

“ Bethie, it is marvelous the way you insist on the 
flesh of those orphans ! ” cried Mr. Cortlandt, throwing 
back his head with a hearty laugh. “ Couldn’t you let 
them come thin and fatten them ? As to having them 
at all : you can support them, I suppose, in Chilton. 
Certainly your orphans, with Ella, ought to get on 
with what has heretofore been enough. You and Ella 
must decide that for yourselves. You may do it, if you 
wiU.” 


LITTLE PIECES OF THE PICTUEE PUZZLE 265 


“ Oh, what an interesting, interesting thing that will 
be to discuss ! And how glad Ella will be, when I tell 
her she is to stay on here forever I ” sighed Beth ecstat- 
ically. 

Beth drove her uncle to the station in the pony cart 
he had sent her. It was not altogether to be regarded 
as a drive, possibly, since they had to start early to 
allow Natalie, Alys and Dirk to keep them company, 
and Trump had to walk every step of the way to let the 
escort keep abreast without effort. When Mr. Cort- 
landt had boarded his train and had waved good-bye 
from its rear platform, Natalie and Alys crowded into 
the cart with Beth, and Dirk ran off to join Oliver. 

“ What do you suppose father will tell us to do this 
fall ? ” asked Alys, out of a long silence in which 
Natalie had been considering the same problem. “ You 
see we ought to go on with lessons and get winter 
clothes and hear some music — and see a nice play again. 
Do you suppose he will send us back to that big house 
in New York — alone ? ” Alys’ voice broke on the final 
pathetic word. 

‘‘ I think he will want us — all of us,” Natalie smiled 
at Beth, fearing what she was about to say might 
wound her, “ to go back to New York soon. Chilton is 
dear, but we are growing up so fast that we probably 
can’t stop lessons longer than October. Mrs. Hodgman 
will be there to keep house ; we’ll get on, if we 
must ! ” 

“We could stay here beautifully until after nutting 
time,” suggested Beth. “ After I put up Trump I’m 


266 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


going straight to tell Ella Lowndes. I can’t wait ; I 
know how glad she’ll be.” 

It never took long to return Trump to his stall. The 
little fellow had learned to stand motionless before the 
barn till Beth had unfastened every buckle of his har- 
ness and removed his bridle. Then, when she said : 
“ Forward, march ! ” the pony would walk out of the 
shafts, past Beth, leaving the harness in her hands, and 
into his stall with a joyous snort, in a moment rolling 
riotously in the straw. He wore no halter in the stable, 
but played and slept and ate as free as a kitten and as 
quick to welcome his mistress when she visited him. 

Natalie and Alys kept a diary letter to send their 
mother weekly ; they went into the house now to write 
that day’s record. Beth sought Ella Lowndes by the 
side door. She came upon Malvina Mellin polishing 
silver, seated by the dining-room table. 

‘‘ Awful glad you happened along, Beth,” Malvina 
said. “ I’ve been thinkin’ : How long’d you s’pose 
you’d need me ? ” 

“ That’s about what we were talking over coming 
home from the station,” said Beth. “ Whether my 
uncle would send us all to New York or let my cousins 
stay here till Aunt Alida comes home. She’s going to 
stay in Paris longer, Malvina ; we all feel so badly 
about it ! ” 

“ Yes,” assented Malvina without undue interest. 
“Well, you ’n’ Ella couldn’t well git along without me 
’s long’s the Cortlandts stay, so I’m goin’ to let him 
wait till whatever’s to be here is. Maybe your uncle’ll 


LITTLE PIECES OF THE PICTUEE PUZZLE 267 


tell you when he returns. If so be you was goin’ soon 
to Noo York, soon ’twould be. But I’m goin’ to tell 
him to wait till you’re ready to spare me.” 

“ Some one wants you for this winter, Malvina ? ” 
asked Beth innocently, groping for a clue in this mazy 
announcement. 

“ Permanent situation,” said Malvina succinctly. 
“ I’m goin’ to marry, Beth.” 

“For mercy’s sake ! ” exclaimed Beth, surprised be- 
yond politeness. 

“ So I hope,” agreed Malvina. “ I’d hate to do it if 
’twas unmerciful. He’s a widower, don’t seem to have 
much of anything but four children, enjoys real feeble 
health, and can’t make much, not through any bad 
habits ; just can’t. Some folks takes just’s natural to a 
can’t like that as tomatoes do to a can. He’s got a 
little home ; I ain’t asked, but I’d bet ’twas mortgaged ! 
He needs me. He’s a joiner by trade. So whenever 
you can spare me here, I’m goin’ to take up the same 
trade an’ join him an’ git those white lookin’ children 
of his takin’ prizes in healthy youngsters’ competitions. 
His name’s Mallock, Monroe Mallock. The M’s first 
called my attention to him, he ’n’ I both bein’ so well 
equipped in ’em. Folks call him Monney ; if that isn’t 
enough to show just what he’s like, an’ how he needs 
me, then I’d know what will.” 

This was too great a strain on Beth’s self-control. 
Murmuring something about “ hoping that Malvina 
would be happy ” and “ letting her know the moment 
she knew her uncle’s plans,” poor Beth somehow got 


268 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


out of the room and laughed and wept on the back 
stairs till Ella, hearing a choking sound, came to look 
it up and found her. 

“ Anything new wrong, Beth ? ” demanded Ella 
anxiously. 

Beth shook her head. “ I hope not, Ella ; I’m sure 
I don’t know,” she gasped. “ It’s marrying to ‘ change 
the name and not the letter,’ and they say that ‘ to 
marry for worse and not for better.’ All I know is I 
never in all my life heard anything so funny as the 
reasons Malvina gave. Yet she is good ! She’s sorry 
for those children.” 

“ Oh, Malvina ! ” exclaimed Ella, relieved. “ She’s 
told you ? Of course it’s funny, but I’m sorry the 
foolish woman’ll take such a burden. It’s all very well 
to pity people, but it’s goin’ too far to be so sorry you’ll 
marry ’em ! Beth, my dear, did your uncle give you 
any idea of plans for you ? I’d ought to be plannin’, 
too, if he takes you away.” 

Beth shook her head again, drying her eyes and look- 
ing up at Ella with such a happy smile that Ella’s staid 
heart beat more rapidly. 

‘‘ I am to live with my uncle, Ella. But I am to 
keep my dear old Bristead home,” she added hastily, 
for Ella turned pale at her opening announcement. 
“Uncle Jim has money that would have been my 
mother’s, so I don’t need Aunt Eebecca’s — he’ll give 
me the other. And you are going to stay right here — 
if you only will ! — and keep house and I’ll keep coming 
home. Nothing will be different, except that Aunt 


LITTLE PIECES OP THE PICTUEE PUZZLE 269 

Eebecca is gone. That’s difference enough, but you 
know what I mean ! And Beth will be away a lot ! 
You will stay here, Ella dear — always ? ” 

Ella’s face quivered, she tried to keep back the tears, 
but they would come ; they flowed freely into the 
apron with which she covered her face. 

Beth sprang up and put her arms around her, though 
she knew that the tears were not unhappy ones. 

“ I knew you’d be glad, Ella dear. I know you love 
the Bristead house just as well as the last Bristead does. 
All Aunt Eebecca left can be used right here, just as it 
always was. You’d be a little lonely, wouldn’t you, 
Ella ? I thought, maybe, if you would, we could find 
two very cunning, plump little bits of girls to live here 
and grow up and have a home and your training — or- 
phans. Then there’d be three in the family, just as 
there were with you and Aunt Eebecca and me. What 
do you think, Ella ? ” 

Ella Lowndes dropped her apron and stared at Beth, 
a burning red color slowly spreading over her face. 

“ Beth, what a child you are ! What a queer child 
to think of just what a body has closest at heart ! 
What do I think ? I couldn’t say what I thought, but 
I can tell you this : I wouldn’t change places with a 
king — not even if they wasn’t all at war — if such a 
plan could be carried out ! I’ve always thought if I 
could end my days right here an’ kind of adopt a 
couple of little girls — Beth, my cup’s runnin’ over ! 
So’re my eyes. I’ll go off an’ get used to it by myself. 
But just let me tell you there aren’t enough words in 


270 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


the on-a-bridge dictionary to say the relief an’ joy this 
is to me.” 

“ Now, isn’t that beautiful ! ” thought Beth, tearfully 
joyous herself as she watched Ella away. “ I knew 
she was miserable about leaving this house, and I was 
’most sure she’d love the idea of the ducky orphans. I 
guess all nice women, like Ella, would love to take care 
of them. Malvina is just the same.” 

Now who shall say that events occur with impossible 
appropriateness in plays and in stories ? For just at 
this moment Beth heard a step outside the door and a 
man’s voice call : “ Beth ! Beth Bristead ! ” 

She ran out, and there, a little way down the yard, 
near the side door, stood Sam Gaines. He was clean 
and orderly in appearance, clothes and hair brushed, 
the battered look of hard drinking which he had worn 
when Beth had last seen him quite gone. He held in 
each hand the small fist of a little creature about three 
years old, both exceedingly serious in expression, mar- 
velously rotund as to body; both with grave brown 
eyes staring up from under a straw hat, set on light 
hair, as unsubstantial in texture as hair well could be. 

“ Hallo, Beth,” said Sam awkwardly. 

“ Hallo, Sam,” returned Beth, staring with blank 
amazement, rapidly warming into enthusiasm, at the 
chubby little things Sam was chaperoning, one almost 
precisely like the other. “ Come in, Sam,” Beth added. 

“ No, thank you ; on my way to mother’s. I’m goin’ 
to Detroit to work in a car makin’ shop — awful good 
chance ! I wanted to stop in on my way to say good- 


LITTLE PIECES OF THE PICTURE PUZZLE 271 


bye to you an’ tell you I’ve been as sober as anybody 
since that day, an’ I’m goin’ to stay so. An’ you 
needn’t be sorry for what you done; lettin’ me off. 
That wasn’t in my line ; I ain’t naturally thievin’, an’ 
’twon’t happen again.” Sam poured forth his auto- 
biography rapidly. 

“ Sam, I’m just as pleased as I can be and I know 
it’s all true,” cried Beth. “ Never in this world could 
I have done anything hut let you off ! Sam, I’m so 
happy about what you say ! And Miriam has stood 
and walked a few steps, and she’s to have crutches 
and go right on walking ! Your mother’s hard times 
are over. Jimmy is a real good boy. I’m so glad, 
Sam ! And I never saw cunninger things than those ! 
Are they twins ? Are you married, Sam ? I didn’t 
know it.” 

“Married! Me! Well, not so’s you’d notice it! 
I’m twenty-one ; that’s all, Beth, an’ I’d better earn 
my own way a while before I try gettin’ married ! 
These are twins, yes. They’re orphan twins. I was 
cornin’ along over ’t East Chilton an’ the folks over 
’round where these babies lived were in a great to-do 
about them. Seems they’re English babies. Their 
mother’s been workin’ over there an’ she died, not 
more’n a month ago. Folks said she was just as nice 
spoken an’ mannered as they come ; what you’d call a 
lady. She let out her folks had cut her off, not likin’ 
her marryin’, but she never said one word to tell who 
they was, nor where they lived. Then she died the 
other day, lately, that is, an’ nobody wants the babies. 


272 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Awful cute, ain’t they ? They have to go to the 
workhouse, or be sent off, somewheres, to a ’sylum. I 
don’ know what took me, but I said I’d like to lead 
’em over to show you. I guess I had an idea in my 
noddle that maybe your rich cousins could get ’em in 
somewheres. Ever see any cunninger fatties ? One’s 
name is Mercy an’ the other’s name is Charity. Kinder 
sounds’s if the mother was hopin’ their names ’d bring 
’em kindness ; she was just a slip of a girl, they said, 
about twenty-two. She called the twins Merry an’ 
Chattie. That’s all I know of ’em, Beth. Think 
’twould be any use gettin’ your cousins int’rested in 
’em ? ” 

Beth had been twisting her hands nervously as Sam 
talked, her color coming and going, her lips twitching. 
She could hardly wait to hear his story. 

“Hot a bit of use ! ” she cried, the instant he ceased. 
She snatched the nearer twin to her, who happened to 
be Chattie, and hugged her harder than she knew. 
Luckily the plump baby was a philosophic person, 
who did not worry. She grunted, but smiled at pretty 
Beth confidently. “ They are going to stay right here, 
Sam ! I never in all my life heard of anything like it ! 
Ella Lowndes is going to stay here, and I’m going to 
live with my uncle, and we were going to find two 
plump babies for Ella to take care of, and here they 
are ! Twins, besides ! And little girls ! And the 
right age ! And the cutest things on earth ! And 
plump ! And pretty ! And good-natured ! See how 
I’m hugging them ! Not a bit afraid ! Can we have 


LITTLE PIECES OF THE PICTUEE PUZZLE 273 


them, honest, Sam ? ” cried Beth, every instant getting 
more excited, her voice soaring higher, her hugging of 
the babies in alternation getting more enthusiastic. 

“ Sure you can have ’em, if that’s all,” said Sam, im- 
plying that there might be anything more difficult 
than merely picking up a pair of twins and adopting 
them. “ Folks over there’d be glad enough to see ’em 
in a good home. Gosh, I never thought you’d keep 
’em here ! ” 

“It’s for all the world like finding the piece you 
thought you’d lost out of your picture puzzle, just 
when you thought it was spoiled — only of course I 
didn’t think that, because we hadn’t looked for babies, 
just decided to find them ! But it is for all the world 
like the piece of a picture puzzle ! And there couldn’t 
be anything better ; sisters, twins ! And their mother 
nice ! Why, they belong here ! My mother was a 
young girl, too, and when she died this was my home 
— even if I was a Bristead. Oh, it’s wonderful ! ” Beth 
had to give up her uttered raptures for lack of breath. 

Her cries of joy had by this time penetrated through 
the house to her cousins up-stairs, to Malvina, wiping 
the mirror in the drawing-room, to Ella in her own 
room in the ell. They all came hurrying to Beth and 
stood in speechless amazement at what they saw. Only 
Ella understood at a glance. 

“ The Lord will provide ! ” she said hoarsely, recogniz- 
ing that the babies who had been her lifelong desire to 
find had been found for her. 

Later, when Sam had departed, on his way to begin 


274 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


his new life, the twins were furnished with a bowl of 
bread and milk apiece, and ISTatalie, Alys and Beth 
hovered over them in unutterable joy to see their 
hearty appetites and their uncertain aim at their 
mouths. Dirk came home and brought Oliver with 
him. The two boys stood dumbfounded at what they 
saw. 

“ Where’d you catch the pair — pear, or peaches ? ” 
demanded Dirk. 

“ Oh, Dirk, Sam brought them, orphans ! They’re 
to stay ! He went back to East Chilton to tell them 
so. Hasn’t he more than paid back the silver? 
They’re the lacking main piece of our picture puzzle ! 
Mercy and Charity — Merry and Chattie ! To think of 
it! Aren’t they dear? Now the old Bristead house 
can go right on, with Ella Lowndes and these! Just 
the lacking main pieces of the picture puzzle, called 
Home, Sweet Home ! ” And Beth refreshed herself 
with a kiss on first one, then the other firm, soft cheek, 
implanting the kiss carefully, an island in a white sea 
of milk where wavering spoons had gone astray. 


CHAPTER XYI 


ISEAEL BRISTEAD’s LEGACY 

F or two days Charity and Mercy, alias Chattie 
and Merry, kept as quiet as squabs, which they 
greatly resembled. They held close together, mur- 
muring at times softly to each other, like young 
pigeons, but not venturing to talk much and not play- 
ing at all. They did not seem to be afraid ; evidently 
they had been drifting about for the month since their 
mother’s death and had become accustomed to seeing 
new faces. A month is a long time out of lives com- 
prising but thirty-two months, all told. Natalie, Alys 
and Beth abandoned every other interest in the world 
and spent all of their time experimenting with the 
babies’ hair, so fine and weightless that it would not 
stay curled, nor retain ribbons ; trying new ideas in 
garments for them, cutting out paper animals and 
dolls, or inventing new toys. 

Ella did not neglect her duties, but at heart she was 
not better than the girls ; the twins and what should 
be done for them and with them in the winter, when 
she had more time, filled her thoughts and sent her 
about her tasks in a waking dream. Malvina Mellin 
was one with this small congregation of worshippers, 
only in a rear pew, so to speak, being too interested in 
275 


276 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


her own prospective adoption of a family twice as large 
as the one drifted into the Bristead house — twice as 
large numerically and any number of times larger as a 
problem — to give all her thoughts to these twin babies. 

Dirk stayed at home the entire day after the twins 
arrived and exerted his utmost skill to make it a 
pleasant day to Chattie and Merry. He succeeded 
oftener than any one else in winning a smile from the 
non-committal little red lips, for his antics struck the 
plump twins as droll. Indeed Merry commended him 
with the one word : “ Funny ! ” 

Oliver came and watched these protracted installa- 
tion ceremonies, admiring the babies more than he said. 
All of the Chilton girls came and spent the afternoon ; 
this was the twins’ first day, and the second day some 
of the girls were at the Bristead house all the forenoon 
and some all the afternoon. 

“My sakes alive! You might as well git Woodrow 
Wilson an’ William Jenny Byron to visit here an’ have 
done with it ! ” cried Malvina, her patience strained. 
“Now it’s the Chilton little girls campin’ here, but 
when the grown folks find out we’ve been takin’ in 
twin babies, they’ll all come in droves an’ herds, an’ 
tell us what we’d ought an’ what we’d hadn’t ought to 
do with ’em, till you’d think it was a Better Babies 
Show an’ every last woman in town was judgin’ it ! 
No use sweepin’ against such trackin’ ; ’tany rate you 
can’t see the carpet, when it’s all covered an’ crowded 
with feet ! ” 

“ It’ll cool off ; things always do, Malvina,” said 


ISEAEL BEISTEAD’S LEGACY 


277 


Ella, too happy to be disturbed, even on her most 
sensitive point — a spotless house. “ Dear knows, those 
twins is worth lookin’ at — so pink an’ white an’ brown 
an’ gold ! ” 

“ Sounds like a bunch of samples, Ella I ” cried Dirk. 

“Skin an’ eyes an’ hair,” Ella elucidated briefly. 
“ So they are samples — of about the best there is, the 
material that the Kingdom of Heaven’s made up of, so 
we’re told on the best authority ! ” 

The third day of their stay in the Bristead house 
Chattie and Merry suddenly accepted their new life 
and unbent. It began with a wild romp between the 
two before they were dressed, a stampede of four thud- 
ding bare pink feet into the hall, a calliope shriek, on 
an ascending scale, and a plump pair of blue pajamas 
rolling from top to bottom of the stairs. 

Malvina, sweeping the vestibule, turned, and saw 
the catastrophe. Pale and trembling, she picked up 
Chattie, upside down, just as Beth and her cousins ap- 
peared in a panic at the head of the stairs and Ella ran, 
horror-stricken, through the dining-room. Chattie did 
not utter a sound, but that was partly owing to her 
fright and partly owing to her position. When Ella 
snatched her from Malvina and turned her so that her 
head was up and her feet down, she liberated the com- 
forting yell which Chattie had reserved till her mouth 
was reversed and it could come out. 

“ Well, her neck can’t be broken ! ” gasped Alys. 

“ Ko, but you don’t know what else is ! ” groaned 
Beth. 


278 


BETH^S OLD HOME 


Natalie said nothing, but clasped Merry, as if she 
feared that she might precipitate herself after her twin. 
Merry was whimpering with fright, so required con- 
solation. 

Ella and Malvina were feeling Chattie all over, as if 
she really were a squab. Chattie cried as hard as she 
could, but of course that was her duty. 

“The only place she’s hurt is in her feelin’s,” an- 
nounced Malvina at last. “ Likely it surprised her 
some an’ scared her more. She’s too ’well padded to 
break. Where does it hurt, Chattie ? ” she asked. 

“ Hurts Chattie here,” sobbed Chattie, pulling up one 
foot and reaching for it. 

“ Here’s a string wound all ’round her toe ; must o’ 
done it herself, or the other baby ; couldn’t of got that 
failin’ ! Now you all right, Chattie ?” Malvina asked, 
unwinding a stout piece of twine from the soft little 
toe. 

“ Y-y-es,” Chattie nodded so hard she shook out her 
assent. “ Searsul hun’gy ! ” she added mournfully. 

“ Fearful hungry, eh ! ” Ella laughed with relief. 
“ Trot up to Beth, and the rest, and ask them to dress 
you ; oatmeal’s most ready ! ” 

“ O’meal most freddy, Beft,” echoed Chattie, padding 
up-stairs with the utmost cheerfulness. 

After breakfast Merry, who had been watching 
Tabby and Middy with increasing desire since her ar- 
rival, caught Tabby in a corner and proceeded vigor- 
ously to investigate the anatomy of the poor cat. 
Tabby, whose useful and ornamental life in the Bristead 


ISEAEL BEISTEAD’S LEGACY 


279 


house had heretofore been cloudless, gave Merry a per- 
fectly justifiable dig, drawing her claws across the tor- 
menting pudge of a hand before she sprang into freedom. 

Merry wailed piteously and came with a dripping 
hand to Beth to be bound up. Beth fetched a strip of 
Aunt Kebecca’s old linen, kept for accidents, and tied 
up the baby’s hand, improving her opportunity to in- 
struct in kindness. 

“ Merry mustn’t pull poor Tabby’s tail ! She mustn’t 
pinch her and poke her,” explained Beth. “ Poor 
Tabby ! Merry hurt her.” 

“ No, didn’t ! ” said Merry earnestly, holding up her 
hand to set right Beth’s blunder. Her conversational 
powers far surpassed her sister’s. “ Not poor Tabby ! 
Poor Merry' ! Merry blooding ! T’at’s Merry’s hand. 
I^ot poor Tabby.” 

“ She will get more good from Tabby’s teaching 
than from yours, Beth,” laughed Natalie. “She’ll 
respect Tabby’s claws more than your clause — in the 
law ! ” 

After this beginning of the day the twins went 
actively on from one piece of mischief to another, 
never bad, always serious of expression and exceedingly 
busy, with visible conviction that their business was 
beneficial to the world, but it took some one every mo- 
ment to repair the damage they did and to prevent 
worse. Yet with this tardy acceptance of their foot- 
hold in the old Bristead house, Chattie and Merry 
developed ardent affection for all its inmates. They 
proved that they knew the art of “ sailor kisses ” ; 


280 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


they went from Natalie to Alys, and then to Beth, de- 
daring that they loved each one ; they accurately 
measured “ so much ” with their brief arms extended to 
the utmost — and if a person measures her love to be to 
her utmost capacity it would not be fair to complain 
that the little arms were short, or the little hearts baby 
ones ! 

The twins’ supper time at five o’clock and their suc- 
ceeding bed hour left young and old tired, but happy, 
convinced that Chattie and Merry were going to prove 
lively, but lovable, requiring no end of time and trouble, 
yet worth it all. 

Mr. Cortlandt came back that night on the last train, 
reaching Chilton at nearly nine. His daughters and 
Beth went to meet him, under Mr. Leonard’s escort. 
Natalie had made a delicious sherbet, which was wel- 
come, eaten on the steps under the stars’ rays, for the 
heat of summer still lingered in the midst of drouth. 

“ Well, ray lassies and lad, I have news for you ! ” 
said Mr. Cortlandt, after he had eaten his sherbet, with 
warm commendation for Natalie on her new accom- 
plishment. 

‘‘ And we have news for you ! ” cried Beth, though 
they had been eagerly waiting to hear what Mr. Cort- 
landt’s trip had brought forth. 

“ ‘ Place aux dames ! ’ ” he said. “ If you tell me 
first what you know. I’ll tell you what I know — as we 
used to say when I was a kiddie ! ” 

“ We’ve got the babies ! ” announced Beth trium- 
phantly. 


ISEAEL BRISTEAD’S LEGACY 


281 


‘‘ You’ve — what babies ? ” asked her uncle, forgetting 
for the instant Beth’s plan. 

“ Oh, Uncle Jim ! ” Beth reproached him. The 
ones who are to live here ! Come see them.” 

She and Natalie and Alys jumped up and towed Mr. 
Cortlandt up to behold the twins. It happened that 
they were especially alluring as they lay, twisted 
around. Merry’s feet at Chattie’s shoulder, all pink and 
moist in slumber, one in her pink, the other in her blue 
pajamas, lips parted, one dimpled right hand clutching 
a canton flannel rabbit’s ears, while a fat left hand, 
which was not the right one’s mate, held a small baby 
doll garroted by its neck. 

“ By all that’s wonderful ! ” Mr. Cortlandt murmured, 
looking nearly as surprised as he felt. “ Look as though 
they’d been here always ! And what a charming pair, 
just alike ; twins, of course ! ” 

“ They are not exactly alike when they are awake,” 
Beth set him right. “ Chattie has golden brown eyes, 
lighter than Merry’s and her expression isn’t the same. 
We think maybe Chattie will be a little more full of 
fun, but, dear me. Merry has been one monkey all day 
long ! ” 

“ What do you call them ? ” Uncle Jim’s subdued 
voice still conveyed amazement. 

“ Charity and Mercy,” Beth replied. “ Chattie and 
Merry. They’re wiggling ; we’d better go down and 
tell you about them out there, hadn’t we ? ” 

“Yes, dear Old - Woman -Who -Lived -in -the- Shoe ! 
We’ll go sit on the toe of your shoe-house again, and 


282 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


you shall tell me about these ‘ so many children you 
don’t know what to do,’ as I’m afraid it may prove to 
be,” Uncle Jim said, preceding the three girls back to 
the steps. 

Here, in a trio, between Natalie, Alys and Beth, he 
was told the really wonderful discovery of the twins at 
the correct instant. 

“ Talk about supply and demand ! Or the psycholog- 
ical moment, or dramatic suitability, or any of these 
things, not to mention the proof that truth is stranger 
than fiction ! ” cried Uncle Jim, genuinely amazed. 
“ One might think that those two babies were waiting 
for their cue in the wings, or, like Bella W ilf er’s baby 
in ‘ Our Mutual Friend,’ were ‘ suspended by an invis- 
ible agency,’ waiting to appear ! I’ve always suffered 
from curiosity, by the way, to know how they managed 
to hang up that baby in Dickens’ story ! But, in all 
truth and sobriety, Beth, this is a remarkable tale of 
yours ; it would amaze any one. It seems absolutely 
impossible to refuse to take the twin babies, since you 
and Ella had decided upon finding children to live here 
and these have been given you, like a visible Provi- 
dence ! I hope they will prove good and loving chil- 
dren. The old Bri stead house ought to stamp its tradi- 
tions upon them. They looked like soft wax when I 
saw them just now ! What do you suppose your Aunt 
Alida will say, Bethie, when I tell her of what has hap- 
pened and how it happened ? ” 

“ I’ve been wondering,” said Beth, and in the same 
breath Alys asked : 


ISEAEL BRISTEAD’S LEGACY 


283 


“ When shall you see her ? When are you going 
back, papa ? ” 

“ Now I begin my story ! ” Mr. Cortlandt said, touch- 
ing Alys’ silky light hair. “ I expect to go over next 
week, Alys. I have taken passage for Saturday of 
next week. I have decided to send you all back to 
New York about October first. I have heard from 
Miss Deland since I saw you, and she has promised to 
stay with you until we come home ; not merely come 
five days in the week for your lessons. She will live 
with you altogether and that will be as pleasant for 
you as it will be beneficial — will it not ? ” 

“Yes, indeed!” cried Natalie and Alys together. 
“ There’s nobody we’d like so well,” added Natalie in 
solo. 

“Good! I thought so,” her father approved her. 
“ Splendid girl, is Miss Deland ; she’ll keep you from 
being lonely and be a perfect chaperon, if you wish to 
have any good times before your mother and I come 
back.” 

“We probably shall not,” sighed Alys. “ I’m getting 
pretty tired of lending mama. Is she going to stay 
and stay over there ? Can’t she come back and ship 
things and send money ? Wouldn’t that do ? ” 

“ I hope so, Alys ; I think so,” Mr. Cortlandt said. 
“ At first your mother’s personal service was needed 
for our stranded countrymen and women, as well as 
for the war victims, but I’m hoping, after the Ameri- 
can hospital and field service are established, and an 
employment bureau for Belgian and other women in 


284 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


working order, your mother can come home and work 
from this end, perhaps to greater advantage. But 
these are the arrangements to fill the gap till that 
time which we are discussing. Good Mrs. Hodgman 
is to continue keeping our house, of course ; I hope she 
always will! Frieda is to return to be Beth’s maid, 
but your Celie is married, children. Mrs. Hodgman is 
providing a new maid for Natalie and Alys. Tim will 
be in town, looking after the stable, as usual, and I am 
going to commission him to stand ready to render you 
any man’s service which you may require. Tim is a 
host in himself.” 

“ Tim is a person whom I’d rather have do almost 
anything for me than almost any one,” declared Beth, 
so much in earnest that she found difficulty in announc- 
ing her conviction. “Not only riding with me, or 
looking after me, on Trump, but anywhere.” 

“ Same here, Bethie I ” Dirk confirmed her. “ Tim’s 
a top notcher, as good as they come.” 

“Aren’t you making any allowance for me, Mr. 
Cortlandt ? ” asked Bob Leonard. “ I’m at your service, 
you know.” 

“ I do know, and count on you. I hope you’ll keep 
an eye on my household, but I also know that you are 
reading law and that we mustn’t get in its way,” said 
Mr. Cortlandt. “Anything that these children need 
in the way of the sort of advice and service a man of 
Tim’s class could not render they will turn to you for, 
Mr. Leonard. So I can’t see how you can fail to be 
safe and happy when you go back to New York, — till 


ISRAEL BRISTEAD’S LEGACY 


285 


we come. Tim will come here to fetch Trump, Beth. 
Perhaps you may as well consider October first as the 
definite date of your going — subject to weather and 
other disabilities. I sail on the nineteenth. You can 
leave here ten days later ? ” 

“ I suppose we can, but having the twins here — and 
Cricket — makes it harder to go. Cricket has to stay 
here,” said Beth regretfully. 

“ He’d perish at the clang of the first trolley,” 
laughed Uncle Jim. “As to the twins, Beth, is it fair 
to get them here to keep Ella company, and then turn 
face about and stay to keep them company? You 
shall come as often as you like to see them. And now, 
Beth, have you thought any more about Israel’s Heal- 
ing ? ” 

“ Oh, Uncle Jim ! ” cried Beth, her heart leaping at 
a tone in her uncle’s voice. “ I almost did ; I started 
to think about it once or twice, but I didn’t dare ; I 
stopped myself.” 

“Well, my dear, if you want to think about it a 
while, I’m ready to think with you, to talk about it,” 
said Uncle Jim. “ There’s an architect in Boston who 
owes me pretty much all he has in the world. It hap- 
pened that when he was at the beginning of his career 
I was able to save him from what would have been 
ruin. It also happens that he’s a mighty fine fellow, 
one of the somewhat rare sort, more inclined to exagger- 
ate a benefit than to forget it. I took him the mem- 
oranda I made of the old mill, dimensions and all that. 
He seems to think it might be altered and fitted up as 


286 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


a small sanitarium, where, possibly, about twenty or 
thirty children could be accommodated, without incur- 
ring ruinous expense. If it can be done, little Beth, I 
will do it for you, in memory of your sweet girl-mother, 
my beloved little sister Nannie, as you suggested. My 
friend, the architect — his name is Wilbur Macleod — is 
coming here to-morrow to look over the site and the 
building. If the Head of the House consents, of course ! ” 
There seemed to be no reasonable doubt that the 
Head of the House consented. That is, if the fact that 
the Head of the House sprang up and hurled herself at 
her uncle’s head may be taken as consent. 

“ Oh, Uncle Jim, Uncle Jim ! ” Beth almost sobbed 
she was so glad. “ Israel’s Healing, in memory of my 
young, young mother ! Oh^ Uncle Jim ! ” 

“ Now, child, don’t fly all to pieces until you are sure 
it can be done,” Mr. Cortlandt warned her. “ Mr. 
Macleod is merely coming to look ; it can’t be done if 
you kill me to-night ! ” 

If you knew how much I think about that girl, 
Nannie Cortlandt, and wonder and wonder about her, 
how she felt when she was Mrs. Bristead and came 
here, and whether she loved the mill and the Branch, 
and what she looked like, and how I wish, wish I could 
have had her a while ; till I could remember her, any- 
way ! And then to think, maybe, the old mill could 
be made to remember her by and little young, sick 
things get better in it ! And to go right on, just like 

Israel Bristead’s legacy, doing good Oh, Uncle 

Jim ! ” Beth stopped, breathless. 


ISEAEL BEISTEAD’S LEGACY 


287 


“ You said : Oh, Uncle Jim ! before, Elizabeth. You 
have said it several times. But you do not owe Uncle 
Jim anything yet, for perhaps the mill will not lend it- 
self to our plan, and, if it does, you will not owe me 
anything, for the working of your plan will be quite as 
much to my happiness as to yours,” said Mr. Cortlandt, 
drawing Beth down beside him and taking her flutter- 
ing hands in his to quiet her excitement. 

Bob Leonard arose. “ I must go to ‘ take my com- 
fort in an inn,’ ” he said. “ It’s a real pleasure to come 
up here and hear things grow and see things sprout ! 
One would imagine that it was the easiest thing in the 
world to be good and to do good, it all flows along 
like ” 

“ The Branch ! ” NataKe interrupted him. “ That is 
just it ! Everything flowing out of the great river, a 
branch of it, and making green pastures ! ” 

Mr. Cortlandt looked at his eldest born. Her eyes 
shone, her head was thrown back; she surely was 
radiant, beautiful, noble. Her father smiled, but his 
eyes were moist, as fathers’ eyes will moisten when 
their girls are beautiful in mind and body. 

“We always knew we were fortunate people, didn’t 
we, Mr. Leonard ? ” he said. 

And Bob Leonard, whose eyes, like Mr. Cortlandt’s, 
were on Natalie, seemed sure that they were. 

The next morning even the twins, entrancing and 
new as an interest though they were, were not able to 
divert Beth’s thoughts, nor her cousins’ either, from the 
coming of Mr. Cortlandt’s friend, the architect who 


288 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


was to decide whether or not old Israel Bristead’s leg- 
acy was to continue, at compound interest, its benefit. 
Mr. Wilbur Macleod came on the same train which 
had brought the Cortlandt children to Chilton. He 
proved to be a man certainly fifteen years younger than 
Mr. Cortlandt, full of enthusiasm, alert, interested, de- 
cidedly likeable. 

The entire party started out immediately after dinner 
to investigate the mill. The twins cried heart-brokenly 
when the three big girls and Dirk set forth. Mr. Mac- 
leod protested against leaving them behind. “ They 
won’t keep us back terribly,” he said. “ I hate so to 
make a child feel sad. It comes soon enough, where 
one is powerless to stave it off.” 

So by way of spoiling the twins by letting them 
have what they cried for, to Beth’s great joy, and in 
spite of her knowing that Aunt Eebecca would have 
disapproved, Mr. Macleod picked up Merry with a 
cheerful : “ Come on, then, Bound Kobin ! ” 

Bob Leonard followed suit with Chattie. Both men 
soon shifted their burdens to a pick-a-back and the 
twins went on their way rejoicing, and pounding their 
steeds. 

‘‘It’s a pretty spot,” said Mr. Macleod, somewhat 
straitened for breath, when they had arrived at the 
mill and he set down Merry and looked about him. 

“Everybody says that when they get here,” whis- 
pered Beth to Dirk. 

“ It must be still prettier in a season when the water 
is not so low,” said Kobert, and Beth was grateful to 


ISEAEL BRISTEAD’S LEGACY 289 

him for remembering a point which she was too shy to 
mention. 

Mr. Macleod dropped all his playfulness when he set 
down Merry. Now he was all the architect, engrossed 
in his work. He began to measure, to sketch, to 
‘‘ throw out ” a room here, put up a partition there, 
build sleeping porches, a model kitchen, baths, all with 
extreme rapidity and in the air, but with frequent notes 
on paper of what he had in mind. 

Mr. Cortlandt and Bob Leonard followed his elucida- 
tions with interest and seemed to understand them. The 
young folk did neither, nor did they attempt to. They 
sat down on the bank of the Branch and, while Natalie 
and Alys wreathed the twins’ fair hair with Michael- 
mas daisies till the pretty baby faces were half veiled 
with equally pretty flower faces of pale lavenders and 
white and lilac blues, and Dirk skipped stones and 
hunted for sassafras, Beth sat and dreamed of Israel’s 
Healing and of what it might bring forth. 

“ An angel troubled the pool and the cripples were 
healed. Wouldn’t it be lovely if an angel came here 
and troubled the waters of the Branch and the sick 
children could be healed — if ever it comes to pass: 
Israel’s Healing, I mean ? ” she said, suddenly, after she 
had been silent so long that her voice startled Chattie. 

“ Perhaps angels will come and help, Bethie,” said 
Natalie gently. “ It seems as though almost anything 
might happen here. And doesn’t it seem sure that 
angels must come to comfort sick children ? ” 

“Of course their guardian angels,” said Beth. “I 


290 


, BETH’S OLD HOME 


wish the Branch could be made like that pool ! But 
I’ll be perfectly satisfied if the sanitarium is built and 
the children can play beside the Branch, and the least 
lame of them wade here.” 

“ I think, Bethie, that we don’t always know which 
are healing waters, nor what are angels,” said Natalie, 
with her lovely smile. “ I don’t know exactly what 
I’ve gained here this summer, but I know I’ve found 
something in the little Branch’s waters — and in my 
little Cozbeth’s old home ! ” 

“We are ready to go down, children, if you are,” 
said Uncle Jim, coming out of the mill with Mr. Mac- 
leod and Robert. “ Mr. Macleod is staying over at the 
inn, with Mr. Leonard, to finish his estimate, roughly, 
here and put us out of suspense by telling us at once, 
somewhere near, what our dream would cost to realize 
and so whether or not it is possible.” 

With his resumption of a plump twin — not the same 
one, but Chattie this time, though Mr. Macleod in- 
sisted it was Merry — Mr. Macleod resumed his lively 
ways and galloped down through the meadows, churn- 
ing Chattie on his back till she whooped with joy and 
had violent hiccoughs. Robert was a close second to 
him with Merry, prancing and jumping till, like her 
twin, his rider was wild with delight. 

After supper Mr. Macleod was given over the great 
table in the living-room, and was soon immersed in 
drawings, figures and plans of elevations, and perfectly 
lost to all else. He left for the inn at almost midnight. 
Mr. Cortlandt walked down with Bob Leonard and him. 


ISRAEL BRISTEAD'S LEGACY 


291 


Although it was far beyond their usual bed hour, his 
young people waited for Mr. Cortlandt’s return. 

“ Shocked to see you up,” he said on entering, al- 
though he did not look so. “ It is ‘ statiable curtios- 
ity,’ I suppose, like the Elephant’s Child’s ! Pardon- 
able, in this case ! Well, my dears, Macleod makes an 
estimate that isn’t so bad — not for a thing so good ! 
I’m going to try it ! He is to undertake the entire 
thing, so we shall have no sort of bother with it. He 
is going to build it this fall. Beth, dear, your sani- 
tarium is going to materialize. Nannie’s memorial ! 
And the fulfilment of your ancestor’s, Israel Bris- 
tead’s, beautiful loving of his neighbor as himself.” 

“ Oh, Uncle Jim ! ” cried Beth, as usual. “ Oh^ 
Uncle Jim ! ” 

Then, being tired and overwrought, she burst out 
crying for joy, and Natalie and Alys cried with her, 
because they were so profoundly glad that Israel’s 
Healing, saintly old Israel Bristead’s legacy, was to 
blossom anew. 


CHAPTEK XYII 


FRIENDSHIPS OF SORTS 


NCLE JIM came swinging up the street with such 



gay youthfulness that it was easy to guess that 
he had been to the post-office and was rewarded. Beth 
had Chattie on the left arm of her chair and Merry on 
the right one ; she was rocking as hard as her chair 
would tilt and spinning an accompaniment of story of 
riding in the park. As neither of the twins had what 
could be called a clear idea of Central Park, Beth’s 
story chiefly consisted of repetitions : “ And she rode and 
she rode and the horsie trotted along, bowing his head, 
and she passed a little doggie and he barked at her, and 
then she passed a kitty-cat, and her name was Tabby, 
and she mewed at the pony.” And so on, in that pre- 
ferred style of small folks’ stories in which the char- 
acters count for a great deal more than the plot. 

“ Now here comes Mr. Cortlandt, so we have to ride 
right home fast, and jump off the pony and go play by 
our little twin selves, because he has a letter, I think ! ” 
said Beth, slackening her violent rocking and insin- 
uating the plump bodies forward on the chair arm. 

“ Gotter stay,” observed Merry, bracing herself. 

“ Wanter stay,” Chattie confirmed her twin, in mod- 
ified terms. 


292 


FEIENDSHIPS OF SORTS 


293 


“ Beth says ; ‘Not now, my duckies,’ ” said Beth, 
hoping it sounded firm. 

“ Babies say : ‘ Sure duckie ! ’ ” said Merry, leaning 
forward to look into Beth’s face with her sweetest 
smile. 

Beth laughed — and knew that she had lost ! “ Ella, 
will you take the twins with you, please ? ” she 
called. Whereupon arose a duet of a sort of Chinese 
minor. 

“ Here, here ! ” exclaimed Uncle Jim, coming in with 
a scowl intended to be alarming. “ Twins that cry 
have to go out in the yard ; they make the house 
damp. Here’s an umbrella. Take it out in the yard ; 
you’re getting all wet I ” 

He gave each twin a bright colored paper Japanese 
umbrella, which he had bought for them in the village. 
Chattie and Merry smiled so beamingly at them, and 
went out with their umbrellas so happily that they 
may have needed them for sunshades, but certainly not 
for storm. 

“ I never realized how much Aunt Rebecca did for 
me ! It really is hard to bring up children,” sighed 
Beth, and Uncle Jim laughed. 

“ You weren’t twins, Bethie, and I fancy you were 
quite tractable. I imagine, also, that your great-aunt 
was better adapted to her task than you are,” he said. 
“ Letter here from Aunt Alida I Where are her chil- 
dren ? Has Dirk gone off ? ” 

“ I think Dirk is in the attic looking for something 
for Noll and him to use— I forget what it was, or what 


294 


BETH^S OLD HOME 


they’re going to do. I’ll call the rest,” said Beth, 
springing up to fulfil her word. 

The Cortlandts obeyed the summons with alacrity ; 
they heard Dirk pounding down the attic stairs and 
Natalie’s and Alys’ light tread speeding down the 
lower flight. 

“ News from our Good Samaritaine, who is binding 
up the wounds of our war-torn neighbors,” announced 
Mr. Cortlandt. “ And news through her of — whom do 
you think ? ” 

“ The prince ! ” cried Dirk, before any one else could 
speak. 

“ You’ve been in Massachusetts long enough to be- 
come a Yankee in guessing, Dirk,” said his father. “ It 
is news of the prince. He has distinguished himself.” 

“ He had to,” said Dirk. “ He was brave ; you 
could see that ! ” 

“ Yes, but this isn’t showy courage ; it’s the kind 
that counts most,” said Uncle Jim. He turned the 
pages of the letter ; one sheet fluttered to the floor. 
Beth picked it up. Her eyes fell on it ; Aunt Alida 
wrote a hand as clear as script type. Beth saw : 
“ Should reach New York on the twenty-eighth.” 

Uncle Jim gave her a quick look as he took the sheet 
of paper which she offered him. She noticed that he 
restored it to its place, preceding the sheet which he 
held ready to read aloud, not offering to share the first 
part of his letter. But Beth was not inordinately 
curious, besides which her Great-aunt Eebecca’s train- 
ing had early taught her that people had a perfect 


FEIENDSHIPS OF SOETS 


295 


right to do what they pleased with their own, without 
explanations. Beth had been brought up in the old- 
fashioned way that forbade little children to ask ques- 
tions. 

“Now, listen,” began Uncle Jim. “Aunt Alida 
writes : ‘ I have something to tell you to-day that will 
interest the children even more than it will you. A 
wounded German was sent into Paris to be cared for, 
five days ago. He did not fall into the hands of my 
corps, but the nurse to whom he was assigned dis- 
covered that he had a letter in English for me. The 
man was therefore transferred to my division. My 
dears, what do you suppose that letter was ? A few 
lines from the prince, from our prince, asking me to 
look after the poor wounded German, personally, and 
to see that he lacked nothing. The prince added that 
he would ask the favor in the name of his little Ameri- 
can cousins, my children, if his own was not weighty 
enough. So, since he came so strongly reinforced, the 
German got as good care as he could have had if he 
had not come to the capital of one of the allies. He 
was exceedingly ill for three days from fever of de- 
layed treatment, but he is doing well now. Yesterday 
he told me how he happened to be the prince’s prize. 
You will all glow with pride in that truly royal prince 
of ours, just as I did — and do ! The allies were in re- 
treat, the prince’s command was falling back. There 
was an English officer who had certain papers — 
memoranda, or plans, I don’t know what — about his 
person. This officer had fallen. There was also a gun 


296 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


left on the field that the prince wanted to keep from 
the enemy’s use. He rode out — he would not send an- 
other, the gallant boy ! — rode back to explode that gun 
and try to secure the papers which that dead officer had 
carried ; they knew where he had fallen. Twenty of 
the prince’s men begged to accompany him and did so. 
Only twelve came back. I am thankful to say the 
prince was one of that twelve. He succeeded in both 
ends for which he risked his valuable life ; he blew up 
the gun and found the papers. He also found our 
patient, torn and bleeding, sure to die as he lay, on that 
field. And, like a knight of old, our prince, recogniz- 
ing no difference between friend and foe in agony, 
raised the German — a common soldier he is, but a 
man ! — and brought him into the English lines. As 
soon as he could, the prince got an English surgeon to 
render him the first required services and then dis- 
patched him to Paris with the letter to me with which 
my story began. Aren’t you all proud of the prince ? 
Aren’t the children glad that they belong to the Order 
that he founded ? And aren’t we all glad and grateful 
that knighthood and chivalry cannot die, that there is 
a possible Sydney, giving up the draught his burning 
throat longs for to another sufferer, hidden under the 
twentieth century uniform, ready to play his part with 
the same noble simplicity of the olden- time knight in 
his armor ? While this war is dreadful beyond the 
power of words to portray, while men are dying — so 
needlessly — and women are suffering worse torture 
than bodily wounds can inflict, there are beautiful 


FRIENDSHIPS OF SORTS 


297 


deeds done along with the criminal ones, even because 
of those ! Out of it all, we hope and I begin to think, 
will arise better days, higher ideals.’ ” 

Uncle Jim paused. “Pretty fine story, don’t you 
think so, Members of the Order of the Strong of 
Heart?” 

“ Well, I should say ! ” cried Dirk huskily. “ Noth- 
ing the matter with the prince ! ” 

“ And our own beautiful, American Aunt Alida over 
there nursing, when she could be comfortable at home ! 
It is glorious to know there are such people, and not all 
in one country, but born in different countries, men and 
women. Do you suppose that’s because for two thou- 
sand years people have been praying : ‘ Thy kingdom 
come ’ ? ” said Beth, with the rapt look her blue eyes 
often took on. 

“ Why, Bethie ! Maybe ! ” murmured Natalie, with 
a glance at her father and a tearful smile at him. 

“The way it makes me feel,” said Alys, with the 
greatest solemnity, “ is that I cannot possibly wear this 
ring ! It is so wonderful to think the prince gave it to 
me and then, with the same hand, saved that German 
and rescued those papers and spoiled the gun and all, 
that it seems as if I hadn’t any right to wear the ring ! 
It seems almost wicked ; as if I tried to play on a harp 
some angel had left around, or — I don’t know what ! ” 
Alys ended lamely, but her cheeks were red from the 
profundity of her meaning. 

“ It makes me feel as though some one had put my 
left hand right up in the clouds, with the flag flying 


298 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


over it, and told me to grow and grow till I was just 
as high as my left hand ! I know what you mean, 
Alys, but in the other way you couldn’t take off the 
ring! It’s — it’s a kind of tonic, isn’t it?” suggested 
Beth. “We must tell Miriam what the prince has 
done ; she’s a member. It will make her braver to try 
to use her crutches, maybe. Didn’t you say they were 
coming soon. Uncle Jim? ” 

“Why, bless your heart, little Head-of-the-House, 
they are here ! Didn’t you know ? ” cried Uncle Jim. 
“ The expressman brought them right after breakfast. 
Oh, yes ; you were out with the girls, giving your twins 
their ride on Trump! Yes, the crutches are here. 
You can take them to your Miriam whenever you are 
ready.” 

“ This afternoon ? ” Beth deferred to her cousins. 

“ The sooner the better,” agreed Natalie. “We shall 
be gone so soon, now, and we’d like to see Miriam us- 
ing the crutches well before we go.” 

“ You are sailing a week from Saturday, papa ? ” 
asked Alys, as if to make sure of the dismaying fact. 

“I leave here on Thursday, possibly Wednesday, 
now,” said Mr. Cortlandt. 

Beth thought that he looked peculiar, almost embar- 
rassed, but as that was more than unlikely, she decided 
that she must have imagined it. 

The twins created a diversion. The girls were dis- 
covering that they were likely to do this. They came 
into the room, each with her Japanese parasol over her 
head, one with a white damask table-cloth dragging be- 


FEIENDSHIPS OF SOETS 


299 


hind her, tied around her thick waist ; the other with 
a particularly fine, lace trimmed nightdress of Natalie’s 
similarly worn. They tripped and stumbled in their 
court trains, but held themselves as proudly as if their 
sun-warmed little faces were not adorned with a 
mixture of their mid-forenoon milk and Massachusetts 
soil. 

“ How’d do ? ” said Merry blandly ; she was always 
the spokeswoman, Chattie being backward in the 
feminine accomplishment of eloquence. “We’re ladies. 
Say : How’d do. Mis’ Merry Twin ? Awf’ dlad t’ see 
you. Don’t go ! Come ’gain soon ! ” 

“ My goodness, Beth, they’ve been robbing the 
clothes-line ! ” cried Natalie. “ Poor Malvina soaked 
that gown of mine in milk ; I spilled ink on it ! And 
Ella was getting a fruit stain out of that table-cloth ! ” 

“ Would you like to have Beth get you a nice, pretty 
skirt, one for Chattie and one for Merry, and a nice 
bonnet ? Then you take off the table-cloth and gown 
and we’ll play calling ? ” Beth coaxed her doublet 
jewels. 

Chattie threw herself on Beth with a gurgle of joy. 
“ Funny Beft ! ” she chuckled. 

“ Now I wonder why ? ” murmured Mr. Cortlandt. 
“ Your offer was not humorous, Beth ! ” 

“ I’ll go find some nice lady gowns for the twins ! ” 
said Beth, and the babies trotted after her, one grasp- 
ing each hand, perfectly content with Beth and with 
themselves. 

Dirk was dispatched immediately after dinner that 


300 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


afternoon to “ rouse the people,” as he said himself ; in 
reality to tell the other girls and Oliver that Miriam 
was to receive her crutches that afternoon and was to 
be persuaded to try them. 

“ You know, Hatalie,” said Beth, when they were 
getting ready to go to Mrs. Gaines’ little yellow house, 
“ Janie hardly comes here now. I’m so worried about 
it I But what can I do ? I’ve asked her, two or three 
times, what’s wrong and she says : ‘ Nothing at all ; 
what should be wrong ? ’ And that just pushes you 
right back, because there isn’t anything wrong — only 
Janie won’t come near me ! ” Beth’s voice quivered 
over this poignant statement. 

“ I noticed that she didn’t come, but I didn’t like to 
speak of it till you did,” said Natalie, who had her 
own and the correct theory of the cause of Janie’s de- 
fection. “ Don’t worry over it, Bethie dear ; it must 
come right, since there really is nothing wrong.” 

‘‘ But we are going away so soon and of course Janie 
is thinking something and whatever it is she will go on 
thinking it after I’m gone, because I shall not be here 
to tell her it isn’t true when she gets ready to speak of 
it. It will go on and just rust into place, so it never 
can be moved ! ” Beth poured out her grief in one 
breath, relieved to utter what she had been sorrow- 
fully thinking. 

“ It couldn’t be anything bad enough to break up a 
friendship and you not know what had happened, 
Beth,” said Natalie sensibly. “ Do you suppose any 
one could have known my Cozbeth all her life and be- 


FEIEi^^DSHIPS OF SOETS 


301 


lieve she had intentionally hurt her friend? Janie 
will get to thinking about you and missing you and 
seeing how wrong and foolish she has been, if you go 
away without straightening her up. But I don’t be- 
lieve you’ll have to ; I think Janie’U get all right again 
before you leave Chilton.” 

In her heart Natalie was vowing to make Janie “ get 
all right ” if it required a surgical operation, performed 
by Natalie, to cure her. 

The two Cortlandts and Beth hugged the twins good 
bye — Alys pointed out that an advantage in twin babies 
was that only one of them had to wait, baby less, while 
the embracing went on ! — and started for Miriam’s, 
taking turns in carrying her new crutches. 

“ It does seem funny, when you think of it, that such 
a lot of us go to help Miriam begin to walk ! We three, 
Janie, Edith, May, Euth, Daisy, Nellie — nine girls and 
the two boys ! But there’s nobody you could expect 
to stay at home. Miriam won’t mind ; not mind more 
having us all than having two or three. I’m afraid 
it’ll be hard for her to start. I suppose I may have to 
run up-stairs and fall down-stairs, or else jump out of 
the window to give her courage,” said Beth. 

“ She won’t have room to practice in that little house 
with all of us in it,” said Alys. 

‘‘ Miriam can’t practice long ; she’ll take a few steps ; 
that’s all. It will tire her dreadfully. It’s merely to 
get her started. Pity we can’t make a sort of celebra- 
tion for her afterward ! ” said Natalie. “ Father would 
have, somehow, if we’d suggested it.” 


302 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


It was a formidable party when it assembled — eleven 
young people, Natalie the oldest, Beth, Dirk and Janie 
the youngest. They found Miriam in her pink gown, 
forewarned of their coming and so ready, on her part^ 
to “ make a celebration of it,” as Natalie wished to do. 

“ I may just’s well tell you beforehand that I’m 
scared to death, but I’d rather die of scaredness than 
of having the sofa come up through my back and chok- 
ing me, as it felt as if ’twould do, lying on it forever. 
So I’m game to do my best to walk, and if it turns out 
I can go on crutches, I’m going to rig up little United 
States flags on ’em and go to school next winter — if the 
ice doesn’t stop me,” Miriam announced. 

“Kubber on the crutch ends, to keep them from 
slipping,” said Noll. “ But the chariot will run in the 
winter when it’s too icy. Dirk’ll be in New York, but 
that Little boy, Oliver, will haul you to and fro, Miriam 
Gaines.” 

Beth smiled at him and sighed. “ Seems so lovely to 
think all the nice things at home will be going on while 
we’re gone, yet a little sad, too. I wish I could keep 
tossed back and forth, like a rubber ball, between here 
and there.” 

So you could rubber ? ” hinted Oliver, but he smiled 
back at Beth with great friendliness. “ I guess all Chil- 
ton wishes that, too, little Beth Bristead.” 

“ If I’m going to walk, let me walk, and you talk 
afterward,” said Miriam nervously. 

Oliver and Dirk placed and held the new crutches, 
but Miriam’s mother was the one who put her arms 


FEIENDSHIPS OF SOETS 


303 


around the girl and raised her on her long-useless feet. 
Natalie sprang forward and placed the crutches under 
Miriam’s arms, while the boys steadied them. 

“ Now lean your weight on the sticks ; let them hold 
you up ; we won’t let them slip and your mother will 
hold you. Then move one ahead, then the next — that’s 
all there is in it ! ” cried Oliver, betraying his excitement. 

“ Don’t talk to me ! ” cried Miriam. “ I know how ; 
I’ve thought and thought about it and watched people’s 
feet go. It’s the doing it ! Don’t talk to me, and let 
me start when you feel me moving.” 

Eecognizing that Miriam would do best if not inter- 
fered with, no one offered her further advice, nor did 
they urge her. After a few minutes, which seemed 
endless to her waiting friends, Miriam leaned with 
greater force upon her crutches and timidly, cautiously 
moved one a few inches forward. Then the second 
crutch followed the first one, moving a little beyond it. 
Thus, very slowly indeed, but none the less advancing, 
Miriam crossed the fifteen feet of width to the opposite 
side of the room, timidly turned, with help, and re- 
turned; the return decidedly a gain over the setting 
forth. After a quarter hour’s rest Miriam again 
essayed the trip and this time she passed out into the 
narrow entry, into the kitchen, and back again. 

“ That’s enough for to-day,” she said, looking pale 
but elated as she sank down on her couch and allowed 
the boys to withdraw her crutches. “ I can do it ! ” 

“You have done it ! ” shouted Edith, in such a loud 
voice that she frightened herself. 


304 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ After this it’s only practicing, Miriam,” said Oliver 
as delighted as any one. 

Mrs. Gaines allowed herself to cry in her gingham 
apron for nearly five minutes. “ ’Tain’t goin’ to be 
the same hard times for any of the Gaineses,” she 
sobbed. “I may’s well own up, now it’s over, that 
Sam’s takin’ to drinkin’ was harder on me even than 
Miriam’s bein’ bedridden. JS^ow Sam, he’s off to 
Detroit, got a good openin’ in a automobile factory, 
just’s sober an’ I hope goin’ to be righteous’s anybody. 
An’ Miriam beginnin’ to take up — not her bed an’ 
walk, but better’n that — herself off her bed, an’ walkin’ ! 
It really does seem’s if those crutches just filled my cup 
to overfiowin’ ! ” 

And, though this was a funny way of voicing her 
gratitude, no one felt like smiling. 

“ And such pretty crutches ! ” added Miriam. “ Such 
awful nice, satiny wood, and those little white wood 
lines set in ’em ! I’ll bet your father took pains getting 
them ! Wish I could thank him right ! Tell him I 
wish that. Say, Beth, isn’t it funny ? You sent up 
this crazy dress, so I’d have something lively looking, 
and now, though I’m not going to dance much in my 
life, I’ve got it on and I’m moving ’round in it ! ” 

“ It’s all dear and beautiful, and things keep fitting 
in, like more picture puzzle pieces ! ” Beth sighed con- 
tentedly as she spoke. 

But then she glanced at Janie’s somber face and 
sighed discontentedly. Janie talked to her; that is 
she answered everything that Beth said to her, but she 


PEIENDSHIPS OP SOETS 


305 


did not keep close to Beth, as she always had done, nor 
volunteer any remark. It was plain for all to see that 
Janie Little did not, for some reason, feel comfortable 
with her dearest friend — if that now described Beth in 
relation to Janie. 

Natalie watched Beth’s happy face cloud over and 
felt a sharp desire to shake Janie. “ If she was only 
little in something besides her name ! The foolish child 
to be jealous of Beth with her own family ! And the 
provoking monkey to bother my Beth,” thought Nat- 
alie, feeling that if only Janie could be transformed for 
an hour to the twins’ age she would be glad to disci- 
pline her as one did a baby. 

And Beth was thinking ruefully : “ I used to dislike 
Noll and he tormented me nearly crazy, but now any one 
would think he was more my friend than Janie is ! ” 

“Well,” said Dirk, with a boy’s decisiveness, as 
everybody lingered, feeling that the great fact that 
Miriam was no longer a bedridden cripple demanded 
further festivities, yet made everything else fall flat, 
“ well, if Miriam’s through practicing and it’s a go, 
why aren’t we all goes, too? We ought to go home 
and let her rest.” 

“ That’s right, Dirk Cortlandt,” Edith approved him, 
as she sprang up to carry out his suggestion. “ Good- 
bye, Miriam. No good trying to tell you how glad we 
are. Come on, Beth Bristead, I’m going with you. 
You’ll be where I can’t walk with you soon enough ! ” 

Beth yielded, somewhat regretfully. But there was 
no use hoping for Janie’s company. Beth liked Edith 


306 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


next best to Janie, but the present circumstances 
showed her that there was a margin between Janie 
and that “next.” Natalie lingered and captured 
Janie, in spite of that young person’s trying to escape 
from her. 

“Well, little Janie Little,” said Natalie, tucking her 
hand into Janie’s stiff arm, “ just a tiny while longer 
and we’ll all be gone! Janie dear, I’m sixteen and 
you are not twelve yet. That makes me lots older 
than you are for a while ; by and by we are going to 
be almost as much the same age as Chattie and Merry 
are. Now, you won’t care if such an old, old lady 
talks right out to you? Why don’t you like me? 
Look at me ! ” 

Natalie leaned forward, compelling Janie’s eyes to 
her winsome face. No girl could have been less con- 
ceited than Natalie, but she was gifted with a power 
to win love ; her beautiful mother had dowered her 
eldest with her blessed gift of making everybody happy 
and charmed by her. Natalie could not help knowing 
that when she tried to coax reluctance, it gave way be- 
fore her. Now Janie looked at Natalie sidewise, sulkily ; 
then more fully, and then, before she realized it, with 
a frank look of entire admiration, that had considerable 
liking in it. 

“ I do like you, Natalie ; you’ve got to,” said Janie, 
surprised to find this true. 

“ Now, my little goosie Little,” cried Natalie blithely, 
“ if that’s true— and why shouldn’t it be, since Beth is 
my little sister and you are Beth’s best friend, whom 


FRIENDSHIPS OF SORTS 


307 


she loves with all her true, tender little heart, — what’s 
wrong ? Tell me ! Here are you imagining that Beth 
cares less for you, because she has a family now, in- 
stead of being an only child. My father and mother 
care for her almost as much as for us, if not quite, and 
I don’t feel any difference between Alys and Beth. Do 
you suppose Alys and I fancy our father and mother 
love us less in loving Beth, or that we are less loving 
sisters for having her? No, indeed! The more you 
love, the more you can love ; loving isn’t like eating 
one’s dinner! But you are imagining Beth doesn’t 
care for you as she did. And here is my little Bethi- 
kins worrying her dear heart out because you are cool 
to her, when she hasn’t done a single thing, and she 
has no idea what’s wrong. But I knew ! Beth loves 
you just as well as ever, Janie Little. You will always 
be her first, most intimate friend, for Beth is not one 
to change. But she will make friends as she grows 
older, and you must be glad that she does. If you 
really love any one, Janie dear, you are glad of every 
good thing they gain. Don’t grudge Beth love ! No 
one could know her and not love her ! And she is born 
to scatter happiness all around her. Please don’t go 
on making her unhappy, Janie ! It really isn’t one bit 
fair ! How can you hurt your loving Beth ? Please 
come home with me and put your arms around her and 
tell her that it hasn’t been because you didn’t love her, 
but because you loved her too well, in the wrong way ! 
That you never again will chill her, because you know 
—and you do know it, Janie !— that you can hurt that 


308 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


darling little thing a lot and that she is just as true as 
the north star.” Natalie poui'ed forth her appeal with- 
out pausing to select its terms ; she was greatly in 
earnest and Janie could not resist her. 

“ I’m sorry, Natalie,” she said humbly. “ I know 
I’ve been horrid. But you and Alys are right there, 
and you’re so much more beautiful than any girl I ever 
saw, and you can do things — so can Alys ! — and every- 
thing you have and say is so exactly just right ! My 
mother has been talking to me for three days. She 
told me what you do ; she made me see I’d been bad. 
I’m sorry — but I want Beth ! ” 

This speech entirely disarmed Natalie. For the first 
time she understood why Beth cared more for Janie 
than for her other friends. Natalie put her arm around 
Janie with a natural impulse of affection. 

“ You poor, foolish Janie Little ! ” she said, in quite 
a motherly way. “No wonder you do want Beth! 
She’s well worth having! But you have her, more 
than any one, or at least in a different way. She’s 
miserable over your coolness to her. It’s rather dread- 
ful to be jealous, Janie. Hard on you, too ! But it 
isn’t quite right, is it, to grudge love, or anything else ; 
good times, or friends, or anything ! But I know ! 
You were tormenting yourself, thinking Beth didn’t 
need you, and all the time you’ve tormented Beth — for 
she does need you, dreadfully ! Come on with me and 
comfort our duck of a Bethikins ! ” 

Janie willingly fell in with Natalie’s plan, though 
she dreaded the meeting with Beth. But Beth and the 


FEIENDSHIPS OF SORTS 


309 


twins, luckily, were on the steps and no one else 
near. 

“ See what I’m bringing you, Beth ! Just crazy to 
get hold of you, it is, too ! ” Natalie called, breaking 
the ice at a distance. 

Janie sprang forward. In an instant the two little 
lifelong comrades were clasped tight in each other’s 
arms. 

“ Oh, Beth, Beth, I’m so horrid ! ” Janie sobbed. 
“But we do want each other, and love each other, 
don’t we ? ” 

“ I guess we do ! I guess we surely do ! ” sobbed 
Beth in return. And this was the only, but sufficient, 
explanation between them. 

Yet that night Beth crept to Natalie’s side, in the 
darkness of her room. 

“ I didn’t think I could love you better, but I do, 
Natalie, you .dear thing ! Even if I don’t know what 
you did,” she whispered. 


CHAPTER XYIII 


BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS 

M r. MACLEOD came to the Chilton Arms to stay 
through October and see that his plans for trans- 
forming the mill into “ Israel’s Healing ” were properly 
begun and understood. 

“ I shall enjoy it,” he said, when Mr. Cortlandt sug- 
gested that he might find it dull staying in Chilton 
after his friend had left it. “ You may be gone, but 
the autumn is coming. The colors would compensate 
for worse things than a month or so at the Chilton 
Arms. I may paint a little ; I’ve been wanting to try 
my hand again. One time I meant to be a painter, but 
architecture caught me. Mrs. Macleod and the little 
Macs are coming up. We’re looking forward to our 
first country autumn. They’ll see what I’m doing ; 
Mrs. Macleod is not a bad architect herself, of what 
might be called the instinctive sort.” 

So the architect was installed with his family, his 
wife and four girls — Oliver Little said they were “ a 
Macleod of witnesses.” Xoll took to drawing the 
family so cleverly that Mr. Cortlandt showed the draw- 
ings to Mr. Macleod, knowing that his sense of humor 
was equal to the demand of enjoying caricatures, even 
of his own fiesh and blood — they were not ill-natured 
310 


BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS 


311 


caricatures. The result of this was that, after he had 
slapped his leg and thrown his head back in peals of 
hearty laughter over Noll’s sketches, Mr. Macleod in- 
vited Oliver to make drawings under his guidance and 
the boy was deliriously happy in his first opportunity 
to improve the remarkable talent intrusted to him. So 
that, in unforeseen ways, the good which the realiza- 
tion of Beth’s dreams set in motion went on rolling 
and growing, like a sort of blessed big snowball. 

“ You are to strike the first blow in the work of de- 
molishing, and drive the first nail when it comes to 
building, Beth,” announced Beth’s uncle. “ Beginning 
and ending, this is to be your work. Macleod has en- 
gaged your friend Abbott as head carpenter. He 
thinks he will not be rapid, but he is sure he is honest. 
Time and materials will be strictly accounted for un- 
der Mr. Abbott, Macleod thinks.” 

“ Well, I should think they would be ! ” cried Beth. 
“You could just as soon imagine that old fuzzy leather- 
covered Bible, the one that makes you so nervous to 
touch, the one with all the old Bristeads written in it, 
being dishonest as Mr. Abbott ! He’s almost as full of 
texts and teaching as it is, too ! ” 

“ Come up to the mill and tear out the first board, 
now, Beth. They are going to begin this morning,” 
said Mr. Cortlandt laughing. “ I want you to see the 
drawing of the entrance door. Mr. Macleod made it 
last night. I like it a great deal. It is arched, as you 
specified, and the inscriptions are to be cut in the stone 
casement — it’s a fine arch, most dignified and simple. 


312 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


You see I shall leave here to-morrow, so we are going 
to make a beginning on the work before I go.” 

“ It is dreadful to think that you are going ! ” groaned 
Beth. “ It seems almost as if we had been cremated, 
with you and Aunt Alida across the ocean.” 

“ Can’t see any connection between our absence and 
consuming fires, little A. and S. ! ” cried her uncle. 
“ What a queer little brain yours is ! What do you 
mean now ? ” 

“ Don’t you know ? You read of cremations and 
ashes scattered over the sea to the four winds of 
heaven ? That’s the way it makes us feel ; as if we 
were scattered over the ocean, when you and Aunt 
Alida are on its other side,” explained Beth. 

Get your hat and call your cousins,” said Mr. Cort- 
landt, with a comical look of mock despair at Beth. 
“ It’s a painful thing to have but one niece of your 
actual own and that she should feel herself merely ashes 
and blown away at that ! ” 

Up at the mill they found Oliver already there, with 
Mr. Macleod and Mr. Abbott and four other carpenters, 
whom Mr. Abbott had engaged for the projected work. 
At Mr. Cortlandt’s request Mr. Macleod produced the 
drawing of the main door of the building which would 
soon replace the honorably discharged old mill. It was, 
as Mr. Cortlandt had said, a fine entrance design, an 
arch wide and not too high ; a welcoming, not a for- 
bidding dignity expressed in its lines, as if it could 
gather to it the unfortunate, and protect them when 
they had passed beneath it. Across the top, in the 


BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS 


313 


centre, was to be the inscription : “ Israel’s Healing.” 
On the left side of the arch descended a combination 
of stone tablets, arranged to harmonize with the unin- 
scribed granite blocks, bearing the words : “ In Memory 
of Nannie Bristead.” On the right a corresponding 
design would be inscribed : “ He watching over Israel 
slumbers not, nor sleeps.” It was all precisely as Beth 
had suggested, beautifully carried out. The three 
young Cortlandts and Beth looked at it long, and then 
Beth folded it in its one central crease, with a lingering 
touch, as if reluctant to shut the drawing from sight, 
and handed it back to Mr. Macleod. 

‘‘ Thank you very much,” she said, with her old- 
fashioned sweet gravity. “ Thank you for showing it 
to me, but thank you a great deal more for seeing it 
yourself. I don’t see how it ever happened that you 
knew so exactly how it ought to look ! I kept feeling 
that arch, but I couldn’t quite see it. Arches make 
you feel strange, don’t they ? Square, or oblong, doors 
just let you in, but arches pick you up and set you in, 
higher up. I know what I mean, but I can’t say it. 
They rise up so beautiful that they seem to say that 
going inside is climbing. Any arch looks as though it 
was a blessing, but of course the arch to this would 
make us feel — a great deal.” Beth hesitated and broke 
down at the end of this revelation, which she had 
begun without consciousness of making it to so many. 

“ Dear little girl, artistic perception seems to be a 
spiritual sense, as some people claim it is ! You feel 
the arch in your soul, not merely in your mind. Cu- 


314 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


rious, this keen, true feeling for an art that no child 
can understand, isn’t it, Mr. Cortlandt ? ” Mr. Macleod 
turned to Beth’s uncle to share his impression of Beth’s 
sense of the beauty of architecture. 

“ In one sense that instinctive love approves an art 
better than a trained critic can,” said Mr. Cortlandt. 
“ If the art were not true the instinct would not be 
misled by skill, as one might be who had been trained 
skilfully. Beth, child, Mr. Abbott will show you what 
to do ; you are to set in motion the work on the mill.” 

“ It don’t matter so much, Elizabeth, what you do, I 
suppose,” said Chilton’s best and most impressive car- 
penter, whose wife constantly regretted that he had 
not chosen preaching for his profession. “ ‘ Whatever 
your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.’ I 
thought ’twould be as well for you to take the hatchet, 
or maybe a hammer and chisel, and pry loose one of 
the boards of that shaft. It’s got to come out. If the 
outer wall appeals to you more, find a place where you 
can insert your tool and take off a board along the side. 
It’s the openin’ blow that costs in all earthly perform- 
ances ; it’s the small edge of the wedge that begins the 
downfall of the sinner.” 

“ And of mills,” Mr. Cortlandt supplemented him. 
“ Go ahead, Bethikins ! ” 

“ The shaft is so much shorter, the boards in it, and 
I fell down it the other day. I’d rather try to get off 
a board there,” said Beth, somewhat embarrassed to be- 
gin anywhere. “ It’s a little bit awful to begin it, isn’t 
it ? Like christening a war-ship, only quite different.” 


BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS 


315 


“ Different in bein’ prop’ly conducted,” said Mr. Ab- 
bott severely. “No champagne used in this, nor in 
anything Mr. Abbott does ! Now show forth the 
might of your right arm, Elizabeth, an’ strike wherever 
your inclination leads you, rememberin’ you’re begin- 
ning a work which, though you may plant and Apollos 
water — that is to say your uncle here — God must give 
the increase, if it’s goin’ to grow to anything. Seems 
t-o me here’s a board kind o’ inclined to be easy taken 
out, Beth. You might pry this off, if you like the loca- 
tion of it.” 

Dirk chuckled and Beth turned hastily away, seeing 
an answering gleam of laughter in Natalie’s and Alys’ 
eyes. She took the hatchet which Mr. Abbott offered 
her. “ ‘Well begun is half done,’ ” she said, quoting a 
proverb on her own account. “ I wish it were ! Dear 
greatest grandfather Israel Bristead, here comes the 
last of your descendants to make your goodness go 
on Why, so I am ! The very last of his de- 

scendants ! ” Beth paused, shocked by her sudden 
realization of her position in the line, and forgetting 
that her children, though not Bristeads in name, might 
continue its blood. The hatchet was a small one, but 
still it was awkward for Beth to handle. She breathed 
hard as she worked to insert it under the loosened end 
of a board on the shaft, and then to pull the board off. 
But no one must help her, so she persevered, and at last 
ripped the board from its century-old place. The open- 
ing was made ! 

“ Now, I guess our hands are stronger to continue 


316 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


what you have begun, hopefully, humbly, prayerfully, 
I trust, Elizabeth,” said Mr. Abbott. “Take a hold 
now, men, and show Beth that bigger hands than hers 
will make shorter work of this undertakin’.” 

For an hour Mr. Cortlandt and his flock lingered to 
watch the rapid demolition of the interior of the mill 
under the competent strength of the workmen. 

“We must go back to the house, children,” Mr. Cort- 
landt said at last. “ I have a few last things to do. 
y ou know I’m going to take that train in the middle 
of the forenoon — and the middle of a forenoon seems 
to come at the beginning, when one is going away ! 
The good work is begun, Bethie! Are you happy 
about it ? ” 

“ Indeed I am ! ” Beth answered convincingly. “ It’s 
the kind of gladness that goes down, down so deep that 
when you try to get it up to show some one you can’t 
reach it. — Uncle Jim, I don’t know how to tell you ! 
It’s as though the Healing was wrapped right up with 
the thought of it ! ” 

Mr. Cortlandt took Beth’s braid of golden hair in his 
hand and pulled her head over to his arm, held out to 
receive it. 

“ Come home, Bethie, and let the twins pull you to 
pieces and down to earth,” he said. 

“ I wonder where Mr. Leonard is ? ” said Alys, as 
they walked slowly homeward. 

“ He is getting ready to go away with me,” answered 
Mr. Cortlandt. 

“ Say ! ” Dirk protested, as Natalie looked up with a 


BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS 317 

sharply indrawn breath. “He didn’t tell us he was 
going ! ” 

“ It is an unexpected decision, Dirk,” his father said. 
“ I discovered that he was staying on solely to see you 
through, in case you needed help in getting off, and 
that he was risking disaster in a legal examination 
which he was to take this autumn by staying on here. 
So I convinced him that you could not possibly require 
his services in leaving Chilton and he is going away with 
me to-morrow. He will only precede you, so you needn’t 
regret it. He will give you gymnastic training this 
winter and I fancy we shall see more of him than we used 
to see, having become such close friends this summer.” 

“ We, papa? ” Alys asked, as Dirk remarked : “ Hoo- 
ray ! ” and Beth and Hatalie beamed on the announce- 
ment. “ Do you mean you — and mama ? ” 

“ Surely ! I told you that I hoped we should be at 
home by Christmas,” replied Mr. Cortlandt, with a look 
so full of mischief that his children all noticed and 
wondered at it. 

Malvina met the returning party at the door, where 
she had watched for them. 

“ Ella took the twins down to Eanneys’ with her ; 
she ran out of C sugar she wanted for soft cookies 
this afternoon. I want to talk to you, Beth, a minute,” 
Malvina said. 

Beth followed the ample Malvina into the dining- 
room where Malvina dropped into a chair at the end of 
the side table and rested her elbows on the table, her 
face in her hands. 


318 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ If you’re goiu’ away next week, Beth — you are, 
without doubt ? ” Malvina checked herself to ask. 

“ It’s sure,” said Beth. 

“ Then I guess it may’s well be right off,” Malvina 
resumed. “ I feel’s if I’d sort o’ like to have you see’t, 
an’ when you’re goin’ to take up a burden you may’s 
well assume it while you know your shoulders are 
stout. Miss Tappan she said she’d just make time for 
me ; she’s gone back to 'putties’ to finish Annie, but 
she’ll get me in. There’s no reason for splendor, even 
if ’t was within my . reach, which it certainly is not ; 
neither would it suit with a case where you took up a 
career because it looked as though rack an’ ruin would 
be mild terms for it, if you didn’t go there. But still, 
I think imder the most depressin’ circumstances, it 
really is what you might call a turnin’ point, an’ an 
event in a woman’s life, an’ for it, I shall always main- 
tain, something new an’ a little better’n common to you 
is your due. So I’ve bought me a large remnant of 
real pretty gray poplin, an’ a darker shade of velveteen 
— that I had to buy off the piece, at full price — an’ I 
thought I’d have me made a waist an’ tunic — which is 
another name for a slanky overskirt this year — of the 
poplin, with an underskirt of the velveteen, an’ I had 
some real pretty green satin that I thought’d trim it up 
so’s ’twouldn’t look altogether like a Quaker sayin’ thee 
an’ thou, yet ’twouldn’t be a bit gay ; just that subdued 
look, with a hint of hope I wouldn’t find things’s bad’s 
I expected, which is precisely the state of mind in 
which I draw near to the ordeel. An’ Ella could do 


BEGINKIKGS AKD ENDINGS 


319 


all right here alone for a day or so, an’ I seem t’ have 
got more attached to you, Beth, an’ the Noo York 
cousins of yours than I’d any sort o’ reason to expect, 
so I feel’s though I’d like you to see it. This is Wednes- 
day ; Miss Tappan’s goin’ to cut out to-morrow for me, 
at Mis’ Kanney’s. What say to Sunday for it ? ” 

“Malvina,” gasped Beth,- as Malvina ceased and 
seemed to expect an answer from Beth, Beth was not 
sure to what, “ Malvina, do you mean — are you talking 
of being married ? ” 

“ Now is there anything else I could be talkin’ of ? ” 
Malvina spoke in an injured tone. “ I’m sure I’ve made 
myself plain. Certainly I am ; on Sunday. Is it all 
right to you ? You’re the one I’m workin’ for now, 
foolish as’t seems ; you pay me my wages.” 

Beth laughed ; she could not help it. 

“It is all right, of course, Malvina. We’re going 
down on Thursday. But if it was this you were talk- 
ing of — I can’t bear to think you are going to be 
married just barely hoping things won’t be as bad as 
you expect them to be ! That’s awful, Malvina,” Beth 
protested. 

“No worse, ’n’ not so bad, ’s ’tis to expect it’d be a 
great deal better than you can expect, an’ then find out 
you’re in for a bitterer disappointment than you ever 
dreamed there could be in the world, an’ that’s the way 
gettin’ married turns out sometimes,” said Malvina. 
“ My sister she had that experience, an’ she died of it. 
I’m goin’ to fix up those four children of his — him, too ! 
— an’ that’s all I set out to do. I know I’m able to do 


m 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


it, an’ if that don’t bring me satisfyin’ happiness, it’ll 
be because I’m no Christian, able to find my own life 
in layin’ it down, an’ in that case I don’t deserve to be 
happy, an’ no one’s any call to pity me.” 

Beth was deeply impressed. “ I think you are just 
as good as you can be, Malvina Mellin ! ” she cried. 
“ I am sure very few people are good enough to marry 
anybody just for a chance to do them good and to lay 
down their own life ! And it is ever so nice of you to 
say you’ve grown fond of Natalie, Alys and me, and 
want us to see you married. Why does Miss Tappan 
go to Mrs. Kanney’s to sew for you ? Why isn’t she 
coming here ? ” 

“ She said she knew you’d want her to, you an’ Ella 
both, but I told her ’twasn’t my way to put people in a 
hole for me ; I’d hate to have you feel you had to have 
it made here. So she’s goin’ to Mis’ Kanney’s,” said 
Malvina. 

“ No, she isn’t ! ” Beth said. “ I’m going right down 
there this minute, before dinner, to tell Mrs. Kanney.” 

Beth ran away, not stopping to hear Malvina’s pro- 
tests. She met Ella, returning from Mr. Kanney’s 
grocery store, which was next to his house, with the 
twins. They stampeded to return with Beth and she 
accepted their escort, did her errand, convincing Mrs. 
Kanney that Miss Tappan must be sent on to the old 
Bristead house the instant that she appeared in the 
morning, and came home, triumphantly warm and 
tired, with a plump Merry dragging on her right hand 
and a still plumper Chattie dragging on her left. 


BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS 


321 


Miss Tappan arrived in the morning before the 
Bristead house had served its breakfast. She carried 
on her arm the black Boston bag which had held her 
patterns as long as Beth’s memory could recall. 

There were but two crowded hours after breakfast 
before Mr. Cortlandt went away. Bob Leonard came 
to bid the young people good-bye and to accompany 
Mr. Cortlandt to the train. 

“ I should be sorry to leave you younglings if you 
weren’t coming right along on my heels,” Kobert said. 
“ We’ll meet in New York a week from Sunday ; I’m 
going to call on you then. How queer it wiU be to see 
one another there, with dear little sleepy Chilton like a 
story-book place in our memories ! ” 

“ That’s the way I felt all last winter,” Beth said. 
“ I kept trying to make home seem real and it never 
would. But I thought it was because there was so 
much going on, so much noise, that it drowned out 
Chilton. I couldn’t think of how Aunt Kebecca looked 

getting my letters, sometimes ! This year ” Beth 

stopped. “ Nobody will ever be the one who took her 
to Boston, and helped her then, but just you,” she said, 
looking up at Robert with grateful eyes. 

The three Cortlandts and Beth clung to their father- 
uncle at the station with such ill-suppressed grief that 
his heart failed him. 

“ Don’t feel so dreadfully, chickabiddies ! ” he said. 
“ I’m not going to war, you know ! It can’t be long 
before you have me back again. And — listen! I 
could not possibly betray a secret, you know ! But 


322 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


neither can I have you looking so miserable. So — listen I 
Indeed you need not feel so dreadfully ; there is hope 
ahead ! And keep in mind that it’s always darkest be- 
fore dawn.” 

Mr. Cortlandt nodded, with such a happy air of 
mystery, that his children’s spirits rose like barometers 
in sunshine. 

“ You know something ! ” Dirk accused him. 

“ Isn’t it fine to have one’s only son recognize that 
his father has brains ? ” Mr. Cortlandt demanded of no 
one and any one. 

Thus the four returned, after they had immolated 
their father-uncle and Bob Leonard to the absorbing 
train, consoled and more hopeful than they had thought 
they could feel after this renunciation. But Natalie, 
Alys and Dirk had early learned that neither their 
father nor their mother ever made false promises, nor 
held out illusive hopes. 

“ Papa must mean to come back almost at once, much 
sooner than we think,” Alys said, after they had come 
some distance, each turning over the same problem in 
their thoughts. “ He sails Saturday ; we ought to get a 
cablegram from him before we leave here.” 

Beth found Miss Tappan with Malvina’s waist cut and 
basted, busily engaged in the difficulties included in a 
large person’s having bought a rather small remnant. 
But Miss Tappan arose to this sort of difficulties with 
the same enthusiastic enjoyment that a physician feels 
in conquering a particularly determined germ. 

“ I declare solemnly, Beth,” she said looking up 


BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS 


323 


under a furrowed brow from a breadth of gray poplin 
covering the table and, in turn, covered by a tissue 
paper pattern that considerably overlapped its width, 
“ Malvina Mellin’s bought a remnant that would make 
a full drapery on me, but isn’t hardly enough to make 
her a casing. Even if I laid it on wrong-way of the 
cloth it wouldn’t help any and the rep’d show ’twas 
wrong. But I’m bound to get it out ! I pride myself 
on being a conqueror of small quantities. Anybody 
can cut, just slashing through large patterns.” 

‘‘ Why couldn’t you cut the tunic open at the side, 
showing a velveteen underbreadth — especially since it 
won’t come together ! — and make straps, corded with 
the green, across the opening ? Maybe it will look as 
if you had coaxed it to stay apart ! ” Beth laughed. 

“ I really believe that’s feasible, Beth ! ” cried Miss 
Tappan relieved. “ As sure’s my name’s Lydia Tappan 
I thought I’d met defeat — only I never would have ! 
Pity you are going to live with your uncle’s folks and be 
well off, if you’ve got a talent for contriving ! So many 
people without the least gumption, no faculty in the 
world, need to manage.” 

‘‘ Oh, well, anybody has to manage in this world, 
don’t they, one way or another ? ” Beth consoled her. 

Miss Tappan’s reputation for turning off work 
speedily was confirmed in the making of Malvina’s 
wedding dress. The scarcity of material had to be 
balanced by abundance of labor, as is usually the case ; 
the contriving and trimming required to cover defi- 
ciencies counting heavily against the economy of a yard 


324 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


or two. ISTatalie good-naturedly offered to cover cord 
and Beth assumed responsibility for covered buttons, a 
task she despised, but had been taught by Aunt Rebecca 
to do well. Malvina proved hard to fit, not only because 
of the difficulties of her build, but because she gave her- 
self up most unwillingly to it. 

“ ’S long’s a dress sort of narrers in an’ swells out 
somewhere near the right spots, it’s about all that’s 
needed, makin’ up for me,” she said. “ I’m free to 
admit it does seem foolish to buy a dress an’ not do the 
right thing by it, but mortals are full of inconsistency 
an’ contradictions — that’s the way my sainted father 
used to end his prayers, an’ ’twas an expression he 
made use of often in his sermons. My father felt 
called to preach, an’ preach he did, though he hadn’t 
any ord’nation from man — likely you’ve heard tell of 
him, Beth ? ” 

Beth, with head bent low over a button whose 
drawing thread, as she covered it, misbehaved, ad- 
mitted that she had heard of the late Rameses Mellin. 
He had been named by his mother, Beth also knew, 
through a misapprehension of Rameses’s connection 
with the deliverance of the Children of Israel. 

Miss Tappan accomplished her task ; when the 
dining-room banjo clock of the Bristead house re- 
corded twenty minutes after nine on Saturday night 
Malvina was ready to be wed on the morrow. Malvina 
had worked hard getting the house in apple pie order all 
day Saturday, less for her wedding than that Ella might 
have as little to do as possible after Malvina had gone. 


BEGIKNIKGS AND ENDINGS 


325 


She had been delighted with the invitation to have her 
wedding solemnized in the Bristead house. She seemed 
to think this increased her chance of being better off 
married than she expected to be. At the last moment 
it was evident that Malvina shrank from embracing her 
self-ordained martyrdom. 

A minister whom Beth had never seen, the pastor of 
a small church in East Chilton, came to marry Malvina, 
escorting her one living relative, the distant cousin 
from whose house she had come to the Bristead home. 
And, at the last moment, as though he felt uncertain 
that his presence would be welcome, arrived the groom, 
Mr. Monroe Mallock, called Monny for short. He was 
dressed with painstaking effort and neatness, yet his 
clothing fairly shrieked of the lack of a woman’s hand. 
He was flanked by three thin, timid little girls and a 
thinner boy, shooting up and down out of the legs, neck 
and sleeves of his shabby suit almost as one looked at 
him. Beth understood Malvina’s choice better than 
before when she saw these children, underfed, thin, 
pasty -tinted, despondent. 

The wedding presents were displayed on the side 
table of the dining-room and made lavishly their con- 
trast to the meagreness of the groom and future step- 
children. Beth had given Malvina the old steel en- 
graving of Washington and his white horse which she 
greatly admired as it had hung in Aunt Kebecca’s guest 
room. She had also bought for Malvina a silver plated 
teapot, which she coveted, and a rocking-chair that 
rocked on a track — also Malvina’s choice. Natalie had 


326 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


given her teaspoons, “ sterling,” Malvina said with bated 
breath ; Alys, forks that matched the spoons, Dirk the 
knives of the set. Mr. Cortlandt had sent her a check 
for fifty dollars, asking her to use it as she pleased, 
“ for herself.” As they came into the room to see their 
father married, Malvina was already mentally spending 
that money for the groom’s children. 

“But I’ve got lots more solid silver than many a 
bride better off ’n I am in Chilton ! ” she murmured, as 
she went over to take her place for the ceremony, un- 
consciously answering half aloud an objection to her 
use of her gift of money for others. 

Natalie played softly during the brief ceremony, 
which she had preluded with the Lohengrin march. 
The moment it was over and the few people present 
came up to congratulate Mr. Mallock and to wish 
Malvina well, she exclaimed : “ I do believe I’ll buy a 
phonograph! for those children instead ! There’s so 
little they can git that they don’t need ! ” Thus be- 
traying how deeply ingrained within her was her motive 
for marrying. 

After the lunch, which Ella had made abundant and 
delicious, Mr. and Mrs. Mallock and the four children 
set out to walk to East Chilton, which was to be the 
wedding journey. Malvina had refused the urgent 
offer of a carriage for her transportation. 

“I’ll git better acquainted with ’em walkin’,” she 
said. “ Good-bye, Beth, you dear little creature, but 
not forever. Good-bye, Natalie, Alys, Dirk. I’ve 
thought a lot of all of you — never’d think you owned 


BEGIKNTNGS AND ENDINGS 


327 


a cent, nor was Noo Yorkers ! Good-bye, Ella ; you 
an’ me got on fine an’ you come to see me whenever 
you can an’ bring your twin encumbrances. Land 
sakes, if they ain’t reachin’ for that marmalade, an’ the 
skin in it’ll kill ’em ! Get ’em, Beth ! Good-bye, Miss 
Tappan ; feels awful easy everywhere, but one seam. 
Much obliged to you for hustlin’ so. Good-bye, every- 
body 1 Children, Mr. Mallock, bid good-bye to my 
friends that’s started us off so nice ! ” 

“ Good-bye ; much obliged,” said the groom mourn- 
fully, turning half-way back, but not meeting any one’s 
eye. 

“ Good-bye,” piped four small voices, as thin as the 
bodies emitting them. 

And the youngest Mallock added, out of her own 
latent, stifled hospitality : “ Come see us when you’ve 
time.” 

Then the bridal party walked away, the bride hold- 
ing the hand of the bewildered youngest girl, and the 
groom loping along with the rapidly sprouting boy. 
The group watching them from the Bristead steps 
could see that Malvina was bidding the other two girls 
to straighten their shoulders and that they obediently 
braced themselves at her command. 

“ Seems if that skirt droops the least bit, about an 
inch and a half to the right of the middle seam. But 
it sets smooth over the hips, where I thought it wouldn’t 
ever stop wrinkling,” said Miss Tappan. “ It looks 
pretty nice, though I do say it myself. I suppose we 
ought not to work on wrinkles, even with our minds. 


^28 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


on the Sabbath. But I’ve always felt the reason the 
Lord could rest thoroughly on the seventh day was be- 
cause He kept right on seeing His work was good, just’s 
the Bible tells us He did when it was first finished, a 
day at a time.” 


CHAPTER XIX 


“lochaber no more!” 

‘“TT7E’LL maybe return to Lochaber no more. 

VV We’ll ma-a-y-be re-tu-u-u-rn to Lochaber no 
more 1 ’ ” sang Beth, holding her notes on a flourish 
and quaver and running down a whole octave in scale 
on the flnal words. 

“ What’s the matter, Beth ? ” called Alys from her 
room. 

“ Matter, Beft ? ” echoed Chattie, knocking over her 
block house as she moved to see, as well as to ask, what 
was wrong with Beth. 

“Xothing! I’m singing,” Beth explained the ob- 
vious. “ I never heard the tune of that song, but you 
often see the words in some book — that’s all I know of 
the words, too ! But I love it. You can easily imagine 
the rest. Lochaber sounds like a lovely island in a 
lonely sea, Scotland, of course ! And some one is feel- 
ing softly sad — not despairing, because it’s only a 
maybe-not-return — but softly sad, because they are 
going away and perhaps will never again see their 
beautiful Lochaber. It’s really strange how near to 
being enough those seven words are ! ” Beth had 
come out in the hall with a pillow in her hand to 
elucidate. Nothing ever wound her up to greater 
329 


330 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


enthusiasm than an old ballad, or historical romance. 
“ Getting ready to go away — just the day after to- 
morrow ! — put it into my head. You have to feel like 
that when you are going away — maybe you’ll return to 
Lochaber no more ! ” 

“ Of course you don’t have to ! ” Dirk called dis- 
gustedly from his room where he, too, was making 
preparations for the exodus. “ What’s the reason girls 
take to sadness just as natural as a boy takes to whis- 
tling ? Why wouldn’t you come back here, unless you 
didn’t want to ? Sure, you’ll come back. Gee whiz ! 
Here’s Tim, walked up from the station ! ” 

Dirk darted out of his room and wasted no time on 
the stairs, via the banisters, being quicker. By his 
preferred route he beat the girls down-stairs to greet 
Tim by a few seconds ; enough to have the door open 
and Tim by the hand when they came flying after him. 

“ Sure, on the fir-rst thrain ! ” Tim was saying in 
answer to Dirk’s question. “ It leaves be quarter to 
six. It’s not much of a thrain for gettin’ here, but in 
the end it finishes its job. Miss Natalie, Miss Alys, 
Miss Beth, sure it does be a sight to cure tubercloses to 
see you again — fills a body’s lungs wid pure ozidont 
air. It’s fine you’re lookin’ ; easy to see the place has 
agreed wid you.” Tim was shaking hands enthusias- 
tically with the four young people, to whom he was at- 
tached with all the loyalty of his warm heart. And 
the four hands meeting his were the true symbols of 
real affection on the part of their owners, for “ dear 
old Tim,” as they called the still comparatively young 


'' LOCHABEE NO MOEE ! 


331 


Tim, was beloved by them all. “ I’ve come to fetch 
the pony away, Miss Beth,” said Tim. “ Thruly, there 
doesn’t be enough time in a year nowadays for a man 
to say grace at breakfast on New Year’s an’ get to the 
Amen on December 31st ! They was full sized years 
whin I was your age ; ’deed it seemed long enough to 
me thin betune Christmas and Christmas ! The less 
time you’ve left to live on earth the shorter the years 
which you can’t afford to shorten keep gettin’ on you ! ” 

“ I’ve often heard Aunt Eebecca say that, Tim, only 
not in your way,” said Beth. “ Tim, do you remember 
that you said the old mill would make a fine sanitarium ? 
Well, it’s going to be one ! It’s begun ! And you were 
the first to suggest it ! ” 

“ ’Deed, Miss Beth, Mr. Cortlandt was tellin’ me that 
same, an’ I don’t know whether it was prouder, or 
gladder, or half meltin’ over it, it made me feel ! ” said 
Tim sincerely. “ It’s a fine thing. Miss Beth, entirely, 
to be turnin’ useless things into the highest kind of 
usefulness. I know just how the sanatorium makes 
you feel, an’ if I didn’t, the name you picked out for 
it would tell me. An’ Anna Mary was that pleased. 
Miss Beth ” 

“ Anna Mary ! ” the four voices chorused, pouncing 
on Tim in an instant, who looked guilty. 

“ Where and how did you hear from Anna Mary 
about that, Tim ? ” demanded Natalie. 

“ Did she write you ? ” Beth asked. 

Tim looked relieved. “ She’s written me. Miss 
Beth,” he said, not specifying when, nor whether 


3S2 


BETH^S OLD HOME 


the letter were the source of the comment on the 
transformation of the mill. “ Anna Mary would be 
pleased wid a thing of that sort; anybody’d know 
that ! She’s a person wid a stern look about her, but 
there’s little in the way of goodness to the poor an’ 
sufferin’ she lets get by her whin it comes her way. 

JSTow I knew a case ” and Tim launched into a 

story of Anna Mary’s kindness, speaking so rapidly 
that it was apparent that he wanted to divert his 
hearers from the date of his Anna Mary communica- 
tion. 

The twins came trotting along, and served the double 
purpose of diverting Tim’s hearers and Tim himself. 
Tim smiled at them and spoke to them, softly, not to 
frighten them. He had seven little Tims at home, so 
he was wise in “ setting limned twigs for ” — babies ! 
Besides, he dearly loved them, which the twins in- 
stantly knew. Chattie and Merry returned Tim’s 
smile with a broad one apiece, and ran over to accept 
his invitation to be lifted, one on each shoulder. 

‘‘ Mrs, Tim’ll be jealous of you, my ladies ! ” said 
Tim, with his inimitable wink which, the instant that 
they saw it again, the young Cortlandts realized that 
they had missed. “ What boldness is yours, runnin’ 
up for me to take you the minyute you set eyes on me 
beauty ! ” With which Tim began singing Widow 
Machree to the twins and dancing slowly with them. 
Their conquest was complete and instantaneous. 

“ Tim, it is perfectly lovely to be the kind of person 
everybody loves ! ” cried Beth, with profound conviction. 


LOCHABEE NO MOEE ! ’’ 


333 


“ It’s yourself ought to know, thin, Miss Beth dear ! ” 
said Tim, so heartily that Beth could not miss the ap- 
plication. “ I’ll be steppin’ out to take a look at 
Trump, Miss Beth, an’ see his thravelin’ suit is in 
order, his evenin’ clothes folded. I have his ticket 
here ! I’ll be goin’ right back this afternoon,” an- 
nounced Tim, producing documents which really were 
Trump’s ticket from the railroad. 

Tim set down the twins, who immediately seized his 
trouser legs, not intending to lose him now that they 
had discovered his charm. Attended by all his satel- 
lites Tim went out to the barn to look Trump over 
before his transplanting. 

“ It’s hard to go to New York, knowing the big 
house hasn’t Aunt Alida and Uncle Jim in it waiting 
for us, Tim,” said Beth after she had called Trump out 
of the stall to prove to Tim how well he obeyed her 
voice. “ Did you ever think how tied together every- 
thing is ? We, lonely over here, because there’s a hor- 
rible war abroad ! ” 

“ ’Deed an’ indeed. Miss Beth, life’s for all the world 
like a card house ; pull out the wan card — it makes no 
difference whether you dhraw out a two spot or a king 
— and the whole business slides an’ begins failin’ ! 
There’s a fine car cornin’ along the road ; it’s a big 
wan,” said Tim, interrupting his philosophizing. 

“We don’t get many of those splendid big touring 
cars here ; this isn’t on the ideal tour through the 
Berkshires,” said Beth indifferently. “ That’s as big as 
Uncle Jim’s biggest one that brought me back here.” 


334 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ It’s the same make ! ” cried Alys, her voice sharp. 

“ It is dad’s ! ” screamed Dirk. “ That’s Leon Cha- 
rette driving her ! And dad’s in it ” 

“ And mama ! Mama, mama, mama ! ” shrieked Nat- 
alie, fairly flying by a short cut across the grass, the 
other two in hot pursuit, and a plump twin bowled 
over and screaming, left for Tim’s rescuing. 

What happened at the gate, where the magnificent 
touring car had stopped, no one could have said. Aunt 
Alida plunged out of the tonneau before anybody could 
open the door for her, and had in her arms her own 
three children and Beth, as many at a time as she 
could clasp, sobbing, and kissing them, as mad with joy 
at recovering them as they were to find her, whom 
they had thought more than the width of the Atlantic 
distant from them. Mr. Cortlandt also got out of the 
car and Beth made a dash for him. 

“ I’m truly grateful to you, Beth, for noticing me,” 
he said plaintively. “ I’m precisely like the cipher in 
the figure ten to-day — ^just nothing after the only 
One ! ” 

Alys and Natalie freed themselves and grasped their 
father around the neck. Natalie shook him. 

“ You don’t deserve to be noticed ! ” she cried. “ You 
knew this all the time ; you never sailed at all ; you 
deceived us ! ” 

“ I didn’t know it all the time, Nat,” Mr. Cortlandt 
defended himself. “ I certainly expected to go back 
to France last Saturday, till your mother wrote that 
letter in which she told us of the prince’s generous 


^'LOCHABEE NO MORE ! 


335 


courage. In that letter she said that she had decided 
to come home and work, raising funds in New York 
for work abroad. She asked me to wait for her in 
New York and told me that she thought she should get 
there by September 28th ” 

“ I saw that when I picked up the sheet of her letter 
which you dropped ! ” cried Beth. “ But I didn’t 
know it meant she was what was going to reach New 

York Why, here’s Anna Mary, too ! ” Beth had 

interrupted her uncle, forgetful of Aunt Rebecca’s good 
training, and now she interrupted herself ! Anna Mary 
had been sitting quietly in a middle seat of the car 
tonneau all this time and nobody saw her with con- 
scious sight. 

She smiled at Beth now, being too happy in the hap- 
piness around her to mind being overlooked. She got 
out when Beth spoke, however, and shook hands de- 
lightedly with “ her young ladies.” 

“ It’s been a full summer for you. Miss Beth, in all 
truth, hasn’t it ? ” she said. ‘‘ I was awful sorry to 
hear of Miss Bristead’s death, though it’s not sensible 
to be sorry when a good person dies. She was a fine 
old-fashioned gentlewoman. It’s a great thing for a 
little girl to find herself a householder, now isn’t it, 
dear little Miss Beth ? ’Deed I was delighted to hear 
how you’ve begun fulfillin’ the part ! ” 

Tim had crossed and come down the driveway, lead- 
ing Trump ; he had the effect of being nothing but a 
smile as he came. 

“ ’Deed then, Mr. Cortlandt, I was near givin’ away 


336 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


the whole thing,” he said, touching his hat to his em- 
ployer. “ I said something about Anna Mary’s bein’ 
pleased wid the sanatorium plan an’ in a minyute Miss 
Beth was on to me that quick I had to give a jump wid 
me tongue to get away from her ! ” 

“ But you did get away ; I didn’t think any more 
about it,” cried Beth. “ Aunt Alida, can we ever be 
glad enough ? ” 

“ I don’t know, Bethie ; perhaps, if you try hard 
enough. It seems to me I can never be glad enough, 
to come home where there is peace, and have my chil- 
dren added — like whipped cream on the top of my 
overflowing cup of happiness ! ” cried Aunt Alida. 
“ There are the babies ! ” she added, as two small figures 
of curiosity peered around the house, getting farther 
into sight than they had intended to. 

“ They probably are not as nice and spotless as I’d 
wish them to be when you first see them,” said Beth 
anxiously, quite with the air of the-Old-Woman-Who- 
Lived-in-the-Shoe which Uncle Jim had called her. 

Chattie and Merry held off a short time from the 
proffered friendship of this lovely lady with the eyes 
like Natalie’s and the floating veil and floating per- 
fume, faint, but sweet. 

“ F’owers ? ” suggested Merry, wrinkling her short 
nose and sniffing like a plump Pekinese spaniel. 

Aunt Alida proffered more than friendship, however, 
and the more substantial bait caught her little fishes. 
Two baby dolls in long white slips, with lace caps and 
knit socks that would have melted Herod, brought 


‘‘ LOCHABEE NO MORE ! 


337 


Chattie and Merry to her with outstretched hands and 
held them her devout worshippers. 

Tim went away with Trump early that afternoon. 
Beth kissed her pony just below his thick bang and 
tenderly told him that she would be there almost as 
soon as he was. Then she and Natalie and Alys took 
Mrs. Cortlandt to see the beginning of Israel’s Healing. 
It was no more than its beginning, but, somehow. Aunt 
Alida seemed to foresee it all ; the sunlit rooms, the 
shaded piazzas, the flowers blooming in the moisture of 
the Branch’s evaporation, the children forgetting pain 
and privation in the peace to which they had come. 
Aunt Alida always saw, and Natalie would always see, 
because they felt, as poets and the very good feel. 
Natalie and Alys nobly went back to the house after 
this visit, leaving their mother to go with Beth 
alone to the beautiful spot where the part of Aunt 
Rebecca which had sprung from old Chilton rested in 
its soil. 

Beth came away feeling as though she had bade Aunt 
Rebecca good-bye all over again, since before she stood 
on that spot again the snow would have whitened it 
and the grass would have followed the snow, and Beth 
would have become one, as never before, with the dear 
family which loved and claimed her. Yet the farewell 
brought an assured feeling that all was right ; it seemed 
to Beth that Aunt Rebecca gave her over to beautiful, 
young Aunt Alida as the one who, of all others, could 
best flnish the work she had begun for her little Beth. 
Aunt Alida put her arm around Beth as they walked 


338 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


home and Beth wound her arm tight around Aunt 
Alida’s waist. 

“ I wonder where the girls are — and Dirk and the 
babies ? ” said Beth, as her aunt and she paused on the 
steps for a moment to look up and down the street, 
with its simple beauty, its restful look, and its back- 
ground of encircling hills. 

Ella Lowndes, who had started for the door to look 
for Mrs. Cortlandt and Beth, answered her, without en- 
lightening her : They went off somewheres together.” 

In a short time Beth knew, not where they had gone, 
but where they were. They were all coming up the 
street ! The chariot led the procession, wreathed and 
decorated, but no longer bearing Miriam. Upon its 
cushions sat the twins, waving a small flag apiece and 
blowing spasmodically on tin horns which were not 
much more than audible. Each baby had a gilt paper 
crown, which had probably crowned them at their set- 
ting forth, but which slipped down over the dimpled 
faces until, from too frequent setting right, Chattie’s 
parted in the middle and blew away as lightly as ever 
any earthly glory was lost. Oliver and Dirk drew the 
chariot, one in a funny old linen duster, the other in a 
velvet smoking jacket that made the chariot suggestive 
of a hurdy-gurdy drawn by an Italian, and the twins 
reminiscent of the monkey that perches on its top, seen 
in duplicate. 

Edith, May, Euth, Nellie and Daisy came next, all 
fantastically clad. Then Natalie and Alys, without any 
change in their appearance, as honorary members of the 


“LOCHABER NO MORE!” 


339 


cavalcade, not properly part of it. In solitary dignity, 
at the end, came Miriam, swinging along on the 
crutches which she had learned to use confidently, 
without too great fatigue. Janie in a long blue gown 
carried a banner and brought up the rear, behind 
Miriam. Her banner was white with blue letters and 
its inscription was “ P. P. C.” 

“ How nice ! ” cried Aunt Alida, who always enjoyed 
her children’s frolics. She “ was not ever going to 
grow up,” she said, and it was true. 

“ Did you ever ! ” cried Beth. “ Every single one of 
them, and I did not know a thing ! ” 

“ Stay where you are, ladies,” called Noll, too full of 
the spirit of the event to be afraid of Mrs. Cortlandt. 

Whereupon a lively chorus arose, to the tune of 
Yankee Doodle ; words, Beth felt sure, by Ruth, who 
was considered gifted in that line. 

P. P. G. we sing to thee, 

Because you go to-morrow ; 

We’ll not see our dear B. B. 

Unless we all can follow. 

P. P. C. that mournful three, 

P. P. 0. is horrid ! 

Till our death we’ll love our Beth, 

With a love that’s torrid ! ” 

Luckily, this effusion was not intended to be taken 
seriously, but Beth enjoyed it, and the singers enjoyed 
Mrs. Cortlandt’s happy laughter over it and vehement 
applause. 


340 


BETH'S OLD HOME 


“ Come around to the side door, an’ come in, before 
the yeast works off,” called Ella, who had been in- 
formed of this serenade. 

The visitors accepted her invitation ; !N^atalie, Alys 
and Dirk were plainly prepared for it. 

“ But we aren’t going to-morrow ! ” said Beth, as she 
and Aunt Alida went through the house to join the party. 

“ Oh, yes, dear, we are ! ” said Aunt Alida. “ Uncle 
Jim must hurry back. Did he forget to tell you ? The 
girls say that you are all ready to start now. So we go 
in the morning.” 

“ Dear me, it seems so quick ! ” said Beth. ‘‘ But of 
course it doesn’t really matter ! Wouldn’t it be nice if 
we could be in two places all the time ? The twins and 
my Cricket are so dear to leave ! ” 

‘‘Ella’s consolation prizes!” Aunt Alida reminded 
her. “ It is going to be a winter full of interest and 
helping, Beth. You shall sew and knit, and work in all 
ways to lessen suffering. It shall be more successful 
work than your Belgian Bees did. Ella is prepared for 
your friends ! See ? ” 

Ella Lowndes was bringing out ice-cream, Dirk and 
IS’oll helping her. The twins were behaving with 
wonderful self-control, waiting their turn on the chariot. 
After everybody was served, Oliver mysteriously beck- 
oned Beth into the big drawing-room and over to the 
window, out of hearing and into the light. 

“ I don’t suppose you’ll care anything about it, after 
all, Beth,” he said, “ but I’ve been making this fory^ou, 
at odd times.” 


“ LOCHABEE NO MOEE ! 


341 


He produced a small frame, its opening big enough 
to hold a 3 X 4 picture. It was carved with great skill, 
and its design was intricate. The wood was beautiful 
in quality and dark ; its finish was a soft oil. 

“ I think it’s perfectly beautiful, Noll ! ” cried Beth 
sincerely, so pleased with the gift that the color flooded 
her face as she looked at it and her eyes smiled up at 
Noll, as well as her lips. 

“ It’s old Italian wood I got from an artist chap who 
was here — you remember him last summer?” Oliver 
said, well satisfied with the proof he saw of having 
pleased Beth. “ Of course it isn’t much of a frame, but 
I did my best with it. I’ve got some prints here that fit 
it, if you happened to want one. There’s one of Janie.” 

Oliver produced the photographs from his wallet and 
ran them over with elaborate carelessness. Beth saw 
several of Chilton scenes, two excellent ones of Janie, 
both of which she abstracted to consider, and then she 
espied one of Oliver. 

“ Let me see that,” she cried, for Oliver was turning 
it over so carelessly that she could not know his secret 
hope that she would ask to see it. It was a good 
picture of Noll in his white flannel shirt and loose flow- 
ing tie, his frank face tilted upward, his eyes and merry 
lips laughing. “ Oh, what a nice picture, what a fine 
picture of you, Noll ! ” cried Beth. ‘‘ Just the way we 
like best to see you ; you look as if you were just plan- 
ning one of your splendid drawings ! ” 

“ Dirk snapped it,” said Noll lightly, as he extended 
his hand to receive the picture back. 


342 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


“ Could I have this ? I’d rather have it than any- 
thing, to put in the frame you made,” said Beth. 

“ Oh, say, you don’t have to think you’ve got to put 
my picture in that frame just because I made it,” Noll 
protested, crimsoning. 

‘‘ Because I want it ? ” Beth said with the smile that 
Noll had learned this summer to watch for, it was so 
sweet and sunny. “ I’d love to have it, if I may, Noll. 
I used to think you were — well, you loved to tease 
Janie and me, you know I But now I think you are 
the nicest boy ! Almost nicer than our own Dirk ! 
And I’d Kke to have the picture, because I think you 
are almost as good a friend to me as Janie is.” 

“ Bet your very best jewel I’m every bit as good a 
friend of yours as Janie is ! ” declared Noll, growing so 
red that Beth marveled. “ You’re a mighty nice little 
pippin, Bethie, and I’m the little Oliver Little who 
knows it ! Keep it, then, if you honest want to.” 

Beth thanked Oliver with all her pretty looks, as 
well as with her voice. Then she tucked the photo- 
graph and frame into a safe corner, and ran back to 
her friends. 

“We’re going now, Beth,” said Edith. “We shall 
see you in the morning, just to wave at you when you 
pass. We’re all going to get up and get together on 
the corner of Janie’s street to see you go by. But 
we’ve got to say our good-bye now. Good-bye, you 
peach ! ” 

One by one the girls kissed Beth, showing so much 
regret at her going that it took on the nature of a 


''LOCHABEE NO MOEE!’» 


343 


solemn occasion and made the twins cry sympathet- 
ically. Miriam disapproved of this tone. She kissed 
Beth and slapped her on the shoulder jovially. Then 
she swung off on her crutches and, when she had 
reached the gate, leaned on its post and boldly waved 
one crutch back at Beth. 

“ Look how she’s beginning to take risks ! ” cried 
Beth delightedly. 

Janie clung to Beth longest, as Beth clung to her. 

“ You dearest thing ! ” whispered Janie. “ I’ll never 
love any other girl like you, Beth.” 

“ JSTo, of course not ; neither shall I,” answered Beth, 
satisfactorily, if not correctly. 

In the morning the old house was early astir. Leon 
brought the car around from the garage of the Chilton 
Arms at eight o’clock, and its passengers were ready 
for it. Mrs. Cortlandt bade Ella good-bye, kissed the 
twins and got in. Her husband followed her example. 
Dirk bade Ella and the babies the curt good-bye that 
was like a boy who felt sorrier than he cared to betray 
at leaving the pudgy doublets. Natalie and Alys 
could hardly put them down, but at last managed to 
relinquish the babies and take their places. Beth 
hugged Cricket and shed a few tears on the loving 
little dog’s soft coat. She hugged Chattie and Merry, 
and hugged them over again, kissing them and cooing 
to them, mother-fashion. 

“Good-bye, my Beth, you dear child. I’ll write 
regular an’ you no need to worry about the little dog, 
nor the little twins, least of all about your old Ella 


344 


BETH’S OLD HOME 


Lowndes, who is pretty near thankful and happy 
enough to die! But for that very reason, ain’t con- 
siderin’ doin’ so,” said Ella, straining Beth to her 
violently. Dirk reached over and blew the horn. 
Beth jumped, gave Cricket, Ella, both babies a last, 
emphatic hug in quick rotation, and jumped into the 
car. 

Last of all Anna Mary stepped in, deliberately, as 
she did all things. Leon Charette leaned forward and 
performed one or two small operations on the levers 
before him, and touched his electric starter button. 
The car moved slowly away. All the young people 
stood up to wave their hands backward at Ella, stand- 
ing with a plump twin, sustained, by a great effort, on 
each arm. The old Bristead house in a moment was 
shut from view. At the corner of Janie’s street stood, 
not only Janie, Edith, Euth, May, Daisy and Nellie, 
but Oliver. 

Hats and hands waved in the air. The young people 
in the car waved, as wildly, back again. Leon Charette 
saluted with the horn. And then they were off ! The 
crisp morning air, beautiful with its light breeze, 
glorified dear old Chilton. Beth sank back on the 
seat, against the luxurious cushion. 

“ It has been a mile-stone summer for me,” she said, 
smiling happily, yet grave. “ I’m glad of every 
single thing ! That I have you, that the twins are 
found, that Israel’s Healing is begun, that Miriam is 
cured, even that dear Aunt Eebecca is — not here. 
And I’m glad this blessed old place is my old home ! 


‘^LOCHABER NO MORE 


345 


But most of all, and all the time, I’m glad you love 
me ! ” 

“ As we surely do, little maid ! ” said Uncle Jim, 
and Aunt Alida sealed his statement with a kiss on 
Beth’s soft cheek, as Beth leaned against her beautiful 
aunt and gave herself up to being carried on to the 
bright future waiting for her. 


/ 

J 


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“SIX GIRLS” SERIES 
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A series of enjoyable experiences. Beth, brought up under the 
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336 pages 

Beth’s Old Home 

This is the aftermath of Beth’s Wonder-Winter and tells of her 
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319 pages 

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The Orcutt Girls 

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Sue Orcutt 

A SEQUEL TO “THE ORCUTT GIRLS.” 335 pp. 

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Each volume is fully illustrated. Price, $1.50 


The M. M. a 

A STORY OF THE GREAT ROCKIES. 232 pp. 

The experience of a New England girl in the Colorado 
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claim which he had secured after years of misfortune 
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“Bp Amy E. "Blanchard 

Elizabeth, Betsy and Bess 

Miss Blanchard needs no introduction to girls. Her stories have 
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characters as every girl enjoys reading about. 284 pages 

Elizabeth, Betsy and Bess — 
Schoolmates 

This is the story of the school days of the three girl chums and 
shows the individual development of each one. Every chapter is 
full of the interesting experiences dear to the hearts of girls of this 
age. 336 pages 

The Camp Fire Girls of Brightwood 

A STORY OF HOW THEY KINDLED THEIR FIRE 
AND KEPT IT BURNING 

What the Boy Scout organization means to the boys. Camp Fire 
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having high aims of helpfulness and personal service ard this story 
shows the development in the characters of those who made up the 
organization in the little town of Brightwood. 309 pages 

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Phillida's Glad Year 

As the librarian of one of our largest libraries. Miss Grace Blanch- 
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will appeal to every girl. 340 pages 


By Marion Ames Taggart 

Beth*s Old Home 

This is the aftermath of “ Beth’s Wonder-Winter ” and tells of her 
return to her old home. It is a separate story and yet, after read- 
ing it one will be anxious to know of the incidents and pleasures of 
“ Beth’s Wonder-Winter” in New York. 350 pages 

Fully Illustrated. Price $1,25 net 








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